Media Releases

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS TO THE PUZZLE THAT IS INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

18 June 2008: Have you ever had gastroenteritis and not been able to leave the house just in case a bathroom isn't around when you need it? Or have you ever needed to use the bathroom so urgently that you can't wait in line?

If so, you have a minor insight to the life-long impact inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, have on the estimated 61,000 Australians living with these incurable diseases every day.

This is National Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week and during this week alone, 31 Australians will be diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). And this number is expected to keep rising.

"IBD in developing countries continues to increase and the statistics are likely to under-represent the true number of sufferers," explains Professor Barbara Fazekas de St Groth, head of the Centenary Institute's T Cell Biology research program which is investigating the causes of inflammatory bowel disease. "IBD can be difficult to diagnose without medical procedures such as colonoscopy, and sufferers may have several attacks before a diagnosis is finally made. People are often embarrassed to talk about their symptoms. This means there are likely many more people suffering IBD than we know."

Professor Fazekas de St Groth says that while we can diagnose and treat Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, there is very little understanding of what causes the diseases in the first place.

"At Centenary, we are looking at ways to answer some of the unknowns, including what are the triggers and why do certain people get IBD and others don't?" she explains. "It is time to take a step back and look at the environmental and lifestyle factors in developed countries which may be contributing to the increasing incidence of IBD."

"We are taking our research right back to the beginning and looking at the impact of a particular type of cell, the regulatory T cell, on disease development. We have found that people who suffer from IBD are deficient in these cells, which form a critical pathway between the environment and the immune system. This deficit in regulatory T cells was found regardless of whether the disease is currently active or inactive or if patients are taking medication to control their symptoms or not."

Professor Fazekas de St Groth is investigating why this is and also looking to find out if there may be genetic factors controlling the manifestation of disease.

"IBD is often diagnosed in young people aged 15-40 and its impact on lifestyle is significant with ongoing symptoms including pain, diarrhoea and fatigue. If we can understand the biological factors controlling why the disease starts in the first place, we may be able to develop more effective treatments or even look at ways of preventing disease altogether," says Professor Fazekas de St Groth.

For more information, contact:
Erin Sharp, Communications Coordinator, the Centenary Institute
p: 02 9565 6118 m: 0431 029 215 e: e.sharp@centenary.org.au