Dear Friends,
With your help this past winter, Propel a Cure awarded $100,000 to Promakhos Therapeutics for their exciting project, "Validating the Role of Mucosal Innate Immune Deficiency in Crohn's Disease." We are extremely excited to announce additional details of this groundbreaking study that is now underway!
Promakhos is developing an oral, non-immunosuppressive immunomodulator for Crohn's disease that could potentially be curative. Their drug aims to restore the defective communication between the gut microbes and the local immune system to promote wound healing, epithelial barrier function, and bacterial clearance.
The Promakhos team's hypothesis centers on the idea that the mucosal innate immune response is not activated correctly in Crohn's patients. Based on their observations, around 90 percent of patients with active disease show a significant 10-fold reduction in the levels of certain bacterial molecules, which are critical for the correct function of innate immune cells in the gut.
Their initial discovery utilized 25 Crohn's patient fecal samples from a leading Boston hospital. They are now obtaining additional fecal samples to further expand on their findings. The team will determine whether the bacterial molecule levels are similarly reduced across patients, or whether there are differences in levels depending on disease location (ileal, colonic, ileocolonic) or treatment status.
The team is now working to categorize and test the newly received fecal samples. Later, they aim to transplant Crohn's patient stool that reflects the 10-fold reduction in bacterial molecule levels into mice to develop a clinically relevant mouse model of bowel inflammation. They will then use this model to further validate the therapeutic effect of their candidate drug in order to move to the clinic. These results are also expected to confirm whether the team can use the levels of these bacterial molecules as a biomarker to predict which patients might benefit the most from the treatment.
We are grateful to Promakhos for believing a cure for Crohn's is possible and for boldly pursuing an innovative therapy that could make a meaningful difference to patients. Please help support teams like Promakhos and others engaged in cutting-edge, impactful IBD research by giving on our secure website.
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERS SEARCH FOR CROHN'S INSIGHTS
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Did you know that chemical engineers are among the trailblazing scientists making an impact on IBD research? Join us in our latest video interview as we talk to Dr. Ben Woolston and Justin Hayes of Northeastern University's Woolston Lab about how they are engineering microbes and using gut-on-a-chip technology in the effort to unlock the mysteries behind Crohn's and other diseases.
Click here to watch the video interview.
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DR. BEN WOOLSTON
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As head of the Woolston Lab at Northeastern University, Dr. Ben Woolston has harnessed his training in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, biochemistry, and microbiology to engineer microbes as diagnostics and therapeutics in the human gut microbiota in work currently being funded by the DOE and NIH. Applications of these engineered microbes in gut-on-a-chip models may give better insight into disease pathways, the impact of specific metabolites on the gut ecosystem, and a better mechanistic understanding of bacteria-host interactions for IBD and other diseases. His work has been recognized through a range of awards, including the 2020 International Metabolic Engineering Society Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award, the 2021 Biotechnology and Bioengineering Daniel IC Wang Young Investigator Award, and more recently an NIH NIBIB Trailblazer Award in 2022.
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JUSTIN HAYES
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Justin Hayes joined Northeastern University's Chemical Engineering Department as a National Science Foundation Research Fellow in 2020. Currently, he is completing his PhD under Dr. Ben Woolston and Dr. Ryan Koppes. His research is focused on leveraging synthetic biology and organ-on-chip technology to probe human-microbiome interactions.
Justin recently spun out a microbial therapeutics company from his PhD work – Concordance Therapeutics – which is focused on developing microbial therapeutics for intestinal diseases with high unmet need, such as IBD.
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REFLECTING ON WORLD IBD DAY
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World IBD Day was created in 2010 to unite people worldwide in the fight against Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis – known collectively as inflammatory bowel diseases – and is observed every year on May 19. This month, in honor of World IBD Day, please consider making a special donation or becoming a recurring donor in honor of yourself, a loved one, or a friend who is dealing with this devastating condition. Propel a Cure's ONLY mission is to support innovative, cure-focused research in the hope that one day we will no longer need a World IBD Day. We can't do it without you.
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RESEARCH REVIEW
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A Chinese team has made some headway in better understanding the complicated role played by viruses in Crohn's, a woefully understudied subject.
"Our study for the first time explored the composition and function of the ileal virome (at the small bowel mucosa level) in healthy adults and CD [Crohn's disease] patients, in association with various clinical factors, including medications, diet, and geography. In our study, the ileal virome richness was overall significantly decreased in CD versus HC [healthy controls], and it was more pronounced in patients with flare-ups than remission."
Article Link:
Nature Journal
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Add this large Danish study published in the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis to other research making the case for a closer look at a possible link between Epstein-Barr virus infection and IBD.
Article Link:
Journal of Crohn's & Colitis
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In a study recently published in The Lancet Discovery Science, scientists found that early life environmental exposures were associated with modulation of Crohn's disease risk. Agriculture land use was associated with an increased risk, while exposure to biodiversity & green space was associated with a decreased risk. These findings add to the growing understanding of the complex interplay between the environment & Crohn's, and the need to prioritize research that delves deeper into the underlying disease mechanisms.
Article Link:
Lancet Discovery Science
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Prior studies have cited gut dysbiosis as a catalyst for inflammatory skin conditions, but this interesting new study published in the 8 April 2024 issue of Nature Communications suggests that damage to the skin may actually alter the gut microbiome.
Article Link:
Nature Journal
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RARE PATIENT VOICE RESEARCH
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Propel a Cure is a trusted referral partner of Rare Patient Voice (RPV). RPV pays patients and caregivers of patients suffering from both rare and non-rare illnesses and conditions for their input on new treatments, products, and services, as well as for participation in clinical trials.
If you are in North America, Europe, Australia, or New Zealand, see if you qualify for current studies by visiting our special section of the RPV website. In addition to IBD, they are recruiting for many other conditions.
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EMPLOYER MATCHING OPPORTUNITIES
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Want to double your donation to help cure Crohn's disease? Some companies will match donations made by their employees to nonprofits like Propel a Cure. Does yours? It's worth asking!
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
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Annabelle Hall, Founder
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Thank you for supporting
Propel a Cure! If you can get involved, please let us know. We would love to have you as a volunteer! If you'd like more information about Propel a Cure or have
suggestions for topics you'd like to see covered in the next newsletter,
please contact us at
info@propelacure.org.
We are convinced that together we can make a difference!
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