Researchers identify major driver of inflammatory bowel and related diseases

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Researchers have discovered a major driver of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and several other immune disorders that affect the spine, liver and arteries, raising hopes for millions of people worldwide.

They arise when the immune system attacks the bowel, causing an array of debilitating symptoms from abdominal pain and weight loss to diarrhoea and blood in stools.

Lee’s research team “stumbled” on the discovery after investigating a “gene desert”, a stretch of DNA on chromosome 21 that does not code for proteins, which has previously been linked to IBD and other autoimmune diseases.

Through gene editing experiments, the scientists showed that ETS2 is central to the inflammatory behaviour of macrophages and their ability to damage the bowel in IBD.

“There’s been a search for some time for the central drivers of this pathogenic process, and this is what we’ve stumbled on,” said Lee, who is also a consultant gastroenterologist at the Royal Free hospital and UCL.

Clinical trials are still needed to see whether the adapted drug reduces IBD and other autoimmune conditions, but because MEK inhibitors are already used in cancer patients, researchers hope that process could be swift and potentially completed within five years.

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