Researchers May Have Found The Cause Of Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is one of the two diseases associated with a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease or IBD1. Together with Crohn's disease, IBD affects around 3 million American adults, and the numbers have grown in recent decades.

Currently, there is no cure for these gastrointestinal diseases, but scientists are continuing research and attempting to develop therapies for both—and with some success. Thanks to a new study from Stanford Medical School, researchers may have found an opportunity for a natural treatment for ulcerative colitis2.

Researchers compared the gut microbiomes of two groups, one group with ulcerative colitis and one group with a different, noninflammatory, condition known as FAP. Both groups had undergone the same surgery to restructure their digestive system, but patients with FAP rarely experience the same inflammatory attacks after surgery that patients with ulcerative colitis do. These researchers wanted to know why.

"This study helps us to better understand the disease," said the study's senior author Aida Habtezion, M.D. "We hope it also leads to our being able to treat it with a naturally produced metabolite that's already present...in a healthy gut."

The anti-inflammatory substances produced by the bacteria ulcerative colitis patients were lacking are called secondary bile acids (SBA). The researchers now believe that supplementation with these substances could be used to treat these diseases. They also believe that, in the future, treatment could involve restoring the gut bacteria that are missing in the first place.

The viability of using SBAs for treatment is currently being tested in a trial at Stanford. If successful, it could become an alternative to the immunosuppressant drugs and surgeries, which are currently used in treatment for ulcerative colitis.

There's also potential the treatment could extend to people suffering from Crohn's, since previous research suggested their microbiomes also lack SBAs.