Publications in reputable scientific journals such as Nature, Science, or The Lancet

Researchers Discover Key Pathway in Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Gene Desert

Jun 5, 2024, 03:30 PM

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, in collaboration with UCL and Imperial College London, have made a significant discovery in the field of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). They identified a new biological pathway involving an enhancer in immune cells called macrophages, which boosts a gene named ETS2, thereby increasing the risk of IBD. This breakthrough, described as the 'holy grail' by some researchers, opens up the potential for targeting this pathway using existing drugs. The findings, published in Nature, provide new insights into the genetic underpinnings of IBD, which affects millions of people worldwide. The discovery was made in a gene desert.