Harland S. Winter, MD / Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Boston, MA
The Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Consortium is a group of 15 centers in North America and three in Europe that is committed to research focused on children with gastrointestinal inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. There is increasing evidence that normal bacteria that reside in the intestine may, in the genetically susceptible host trigger the development of intestinal inflammation. These billions of bacteria seem to be related to other autoimmune diseases as well. In the past two years, advances in technology have made it possible for the first time to characterize all the organisms living in the intestine. A recent study that included members of the Consortium discovered genes that are associated specifically with children who have these diseases.
The Pediatric IBD Consortium has worked together for over 10 years and with philanthropic support from parents has created a database with over 2,500 children with IBD. We have already begun to study the microbes in the intestine of children and our preliminary data suggests that some children at the onset of disease have a unique microbiome. We have established a biorepository to collect samples of stool, tissue and DNA from children at the time of their diagnosis from all regions of the United States. This resource will enable us to better understand triggers for these and other autoimmune disorders and develop new diagnostic and therapeutic agents.
During the month of September 2009, the sites of the Consortium diagnosed 68 new children with Crohn’s disease and colitis. We have the potential to include samples from hundreds children in a short time and to focus discovery on helping this most vulnerable population. With this new knowledge, we hope to see the day soon when we can alter the triggers driving inflammation rather than suppress the immune system. We need your support to accomplish this research.
In my career as a pediatric gastroenterologist, I have never been more optimistic about the potential of the tools we now have at our fingertips to find the triggers for these diseases.
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