Funding outcome

By 2030, it is expected that 1 in 100 Canadians will be diagnosed with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn disease or ulcerative colitis. These are chronic conditions that cause pain, diarrhea (sometimes with blood), weight loss, and in some cases require surgery. Children currently account for around 25% of new cases, with about 70 diagnosed each year in Edmonton at the Stollery Children's Hospital. Although there are some treatments for IBD, not all children respond to these, there is no cure, and there can be side effects that are especially concerning in children (delayed puberty, bone health, risk of infection, mental illness). Therefore, there is an urgent need to better understand why IBD happens and come up with better therapies, especially for children. Unfortunately, the causes of IBD are poorly understood. Previous studies, including from our lab, suggest the involvement of gut bacteria but we don't really know how they cause disease. Diet has also been shown to affect the type and amount of gut bacteria found in the intestines, and certain diets can help keep patients in remission (feeling well), and may decrease the likelihood of developing IBD. We think that bacteria and diet might be related in these diseases, and recently found that a child's regular diet can predict how they respond to an IBD treatment that involves dietary changes. This is especially relevant to children with IBD since dietary therapies appear to only work in children, but are very difficult to do. My work will examine how a patient's diet sets up their gut bacteria and intestinal environment, and how this can predict their response to dietary therapy. I will be measuring products created by bacteria that are present in the stool of patients, as well as defining which bacteria are present. I will look at which gut bacteria and products are present in response to certain foods eaten. I will then look at which patients were successful in dietary therapy to see if eating a certain diet has set patients up for success, based on their gut bacteria. Understanding this relationship can help us predict how children with IBD will respond to therapy, and may aid in the development of new treatment options or dietary guidelines for disease prevention. My findings may also apply to children with other conditions linked to gut bacteria (e.g., diabetes, celiac, and even autism).