Indian-American scientist Chander Mohan finds simple way to predict IBD

NewsBharati    23-Aug-2018
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Washington, August 23: An Indian-American scientist has identified as many as 50 protein biomarkers that can non-invasively detect Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) - a gut disorder that leads to diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and weight loss.


 

Chander Mohan, a professor at the University of Houston in the US, Along with IBD expert Subra Kugathasan, a gastroenterologist at Emory University in the US, Mohan is examining stool protein biomarkers that indicate the disease.

IBD occurs when the body's immune system fights its intestinal cells.

Two of the most common types are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, both of which cause inflammation in the digestive tract.

"The disease is diagnosed by inserting an endoscope into the digestive tract to obtain a biopsy. However, this procedure does not lend itself to frequent disease monitoring or home-care tests," Mohan said. "To circumvent this, we asked if the stools from these patients might harbor specific molecules that we could potentially track," he said.

"To our pleasant surprise, an initial screen of patient stools revealed multiple proteins that are significantly elevated only in diseased patients," Mohan said.

"Confirming these findings in larger cohorts of patients may lead to novel stool tests for diagnosing and monitoring inflammatory bowel disease," he said.

"Prompt diagnosis and tracking of disease activity would help clinicians tailor the medications accordingly so that the disease is well under control," Mohan said.

With the right biomarkers, we could be in the position to predict the diseases even before a diagnosis is made using conventional approaches, researchers said.