Dear Friends,
As we finish out summer, we are so encouraged by the steady progress that
researchers at
Promakhos Therapeutics
are making on behalf of Crohn’s disease patients. Thanks to the generosity
of you, our donors, Propel a Cure has gifted Promakhos $100,000 for this
important research, which includes their development of a new class of
a non-immunosuppressive molecule for Crohn’s disease.
The Promakhos researchers discovered that up to 85% of Crohn’s patients
at a Boston hospital carry low levels of certain bacterial molecules that
promote immune control and wound healing in the gut, most likely due to
microbiome changes (initial study with 25 patients). Ultimately, the team
aims to restore the levels of these ligands to the levels observed in healthy
individuals and thinks that this could be disease modifying. The team has
been working with their collaborator in Boston to further validate their
findings by expanding with 25 new patient samples.
Besides their collaboration in Boston, the Promakhos team has now engaged
two other clinical centers in Belgium and France to explore whether they
can test additional stool samples from Crohn’s patients. The first is the
IBD center at KU Leuven in Belgium, led by Prof. Dr. Séverine Vermeire.
The second is the Center for Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Hospital
Robert Debré in France, led by Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Hugot. Both Dr. Vermeire
and Dr. Hugot were enthusiastic about the idea and have expressed interest
in working with Promakhos. The team is now working on drafting agreements
to partner with these centers.
We are so excited and grateful for the ongoing work at Promakhos Therapeutics,
which gives us hope for better treatments and a cure for Crohn’s, but we
need your help to launch studies by additional scientists and labs. It
is currently very difficult for innovative IBD researchers to attract funding
for their preclinical studies; they need convincing data from lab research
before larger nonprofits and government entities are willing to invest
substantial funds. You can truly make a difference by donating to Propel
a Cure; more than 99% of your gift will go directly to preclinical research.
Together we can crowdfund a cure for Crohn’s!
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DISCUSSION WITH DR. JEAN-FRÉDÉRIC COLOMBEL
IBD Causes, Prediction, Treatments
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The Propel a Cure team recently interviewed
Dr. Jean-Frédéric Colombel, an internationally renowned IBD clinician and researcher. He is widely
recognized as one of the most effective collaborators in this field, regularly
bringing together geneticists, microbiologists, epidemiologists, systems
engineers, and IBD clinicians to study new concepts in the causes, prognosis,
diagnosis, and treatment of IBD.
Click
here
to watch the interview.
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Watch Here
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DR. JEAN-FRÉDÉRIC COLOMBEL
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Dr. Colombel is the Director of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable
Trust Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center and the Director of the Susan and
Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center at
Mount Sinai
in New York. Dr. Colombel conducts research and cares for patients at
the Icahn School of Medicine, where he is a Professor of Medicine. In 2018
he was awarded the prestigious Sherman Prize, the first recipient to have
trained and practiced outside the U.S.
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Prior to arriving in New York in 2013, Dr. Colombel was the Head of the
Department of Hepatogastroenterology at CHU de Lille, France. While in
Lille, Dr. Colombel conducted research that led to some of the most seminal
discoveries in IBD, including ASCA as a seromarker for Crohn’s disease;
the first gene for IBD – NOD2 – which remains the most important genetic
risk factor for Crohn’s disease; and a new strain of E. coli (adherent
invasive E. coli, or AIEC) that is associated with ileal Crohn’s disease.
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DISCUSSION WITH DR. JAMES LEE
Potential IBD Genetic Breakthrough
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Last month our team also had the opportunity to interview
Dr. James Lee
from the Francis Crick Institute. His team has discovered a major piece
of the genetic puzzle behind IBD. They recently demonstrated that a variant
of the gene ETS2 is the major driver of inflammation in both Crohn’s and
ulcerative colitis and that other genes previously linked to IBD are all
part of the ETS2 pathway.
Click
here
to watch the interview.
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Watch Here
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DR. JAMES LEE
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Dr. James Lee, a clinician-scientist with clinical expertise in IBD, seeks
to better understand the biology of immune-mediated disease, and translate
that knowledge for patient benefit. He completed medical training at the
University of Oxford (2004) and his PhD at the University of Cambridge.
He received clinical training in gastroenterology as a clinical lecturer
(University of Cambridge) before being awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate
Clinical Fellowship in 2015.
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Dr. Lee spent 2 years of this award at Harvard University before returning
to the University of Cambridge in 2018 to establish a research group at
the newly-opened Cambridge Institute for Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious
Disease. He joined the
Francis Crick Institute
in London as a Clinician Scientist Group Leader in 2021.
Dr. Lee has published over 50 research papers, including first/senior author papers in Cell, Nature Genetics, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gut and EMBO Molecular Medicine, and co-authored papers in journals including Nature, Cell, Nature Immunology and Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Dr. Lee's work has provided insights into why patients with the same disease often experience different outcomes, including the discovery of a genetic contribution to prognosis that is distinct from the contribution to disease susceptibility. With his group, he has also developed approaches to leveraging genetic associations, leading to discoveries into disease mechanisms.
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RESEARCH REVIEW
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You can find a link to Dr. James Lee’s latest work (mentioned above) on the ETS2 genetic pathway below. Earlier this summer, he and his team from the Francis Crick Institute garnered international headlines for uncovering the role of ETS2 in IBD and other inflammatory diseases.
Article Link:
The Francis Crick Institute
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There is growing evidence in Crohn’s disease research of the existence of a preclinical period characterized by immunological changes preceding symptom onset that starts years before diagnosis. In an analysis of preclinical serum samples, a team from Portugal and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York found a unique glycosylation signature on circulating antibodies.This discovery could help us better predict Crohn’s and lead to a potential target for disease prevention.
Article Link:
Nature Immunology
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A recent study conducted by SetPoint Medical has announced positive topline results from treating rheumatoid arthritis patients with vagus nerve stimulation. The rechargeable neurostimulation device was implanted during a two-staged, multi-center, randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind pivotal trial. We desperately hope that a large-scale study for Crohn’s patients can be prioritized in the future.
Article Link:
SetPoint Medical
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A new study led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers has identified specific strains of bacteria that are more common in IBD patients.
Article Link:
Mass General
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Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a pill that releases microscopic robots, or microrobots, into the colon to treat IBD in mouse models.
Article Link:
Science Daily
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STRIDE STUDY TO RECRUIT PEDIATRIC PATIENTS IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST UNITED STATES
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Are you the parent of a pediatric IBD patient who would like to help pave the way for new and improved treatments for this age group? Recruitment will soon be underway for the Seattle STRIDE study, a joint effort by Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the Allen Institute for Immunology.
The 3-year study will be recruiting approximately 200 volunteers and will employ deep immune profiling by collecting samples from routine tests, which will provide insights into how the immune system behaves in pediatric IBD patients and how it responds over time to specific drug treatments. For more information on this study, including contact information, visit the government's Clinical Trials website.
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RARE PATIENT VOICE OPPORTUNITIES
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Propel a Cure is a trusted referral partner of Rare Patient Voice (RPV). RPV pays both 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, register with RPV to receive information on future studies you may qualify for by visiting our special section of the RPV website. In addition to IBD, they are recruiting for many other conditions.
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PLATINUM SEAL OF TRANSPARENCY
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Propel a Cure is proud to be part of the less than 1% of U.S.-based nonprofits registered with the Internal Revenue Service to be awarded a Platinum Seal of Transparency by Candid (formerly Guidestar). This highest level of recognition means that we publicly share as much of our organizational information as possible so that you can be assured your donation makes a meaningful difference for Crohn’s patients around the world. On top of this, we have virtually no overhead costs, ensuring that over 99% of your donation goes directly to cure-focused research. Please help us cure Crohn’s by giving today.
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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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