Inflammatory Bowel Disease Linked with Common Bacterial Gut Toxin

The researchers at the John Innes Centre Norwich, UK, working alongside a team of scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, USA), have helped establish a connection between microcin B17, a well-known toxin produced by E. coli bacteria, and IBD. IBD includes long-term conditions such Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis which together affect more than 300,000 people in the UK. The research, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Cell, raises prospects of future therapy for IBD sufferers. The John Innes Centre scientists, led by Professor Tony Maxwell, have been working with microcin B17 for several years in their search for new antibiotics. It is produced by E. coli (Escherichia coli) as a weapon against other bacteria in the gut. Prof Maxwell says: ‘This is largely a chance finding. We have been studying this toxin for its antibacterial properties and we were contacted by Professor Richard Blumberg who leads the Boston group for quite different reasons - they thought there might be a connection between the toxin and IBD.” https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/inflammatory-bowel-disease-linked-with-common-bacterial-gut-toxin-303070?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=63033094&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_MBG_NZuTLvgsDpzgRIuNBfpDl2ZvCOGA2lcwyCHN6xJVDxRd_MG7K7GzRyfY2ybTT7XMXNZTaNgIUPi1vGDZ2AmabuQ&_hsmi=63033094