Cell stress inflames the gut: New insights into chronic bowel inflammation

This is a cross section of an injury in the large intestine with the intestinal epithelium shown in red. The healing process is characterized by rapid cell division in the wound region (green areas). Where there is a high concentration of the CHOP protein, the epithelium is slower to heal (region with red outline). Credit: N. Waldschmitt / TUM

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a common condition in western industrialized countries. What triggers it, however, is not yet fully understood. Nutrition researchers at Technische Universität München (TUM) have now identified a new step in the pathogenesis. They used a mouse model to show that a protein in the cells of the intestinal mucosa is one of the root causes of the disease.

Over 3.5 million people in Europe and the US suffer from Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis – the two most common forms of IBD. Chronic bowel inflammation is…