Genetic Test Improves Safety of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treatments

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease –IBD) are incurable lifelong conditions that affect approximately 1 in 150 people in the UK. The main symptoms are urgent diarrhoea, often with rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, profound fatigue and weight loss. The condition disrupts people’s education, working, social and family life. Drugs to suppress the immune system are the mainstay of treatment, however more than half of patients with Crohn’s Disease and about 20 per cent of patients with ulcerative colitis will require surgery at some point. The lifetime medical costs associated with the care of a person with IBD are similar to the costs of treating diabetes or cancer. About a third of patients with IBD are treated with a thiopurine drug, however, approximately 7 per cent of patients develop an adverse reaction called “bone marrow suppression”. This means that the body’s immune system is less able to fight infection and patients are at risk of sepsis. Previous studies have identified mutations in a gene known as TPMT, which predisposes patients to thiopurine-induced bone marrow suppression. Clinicians either adjust the dose or avoid thiopurines altogether if routine tests show that patients are likely to carry faulty versions of the TPMT gene. However, only a quarter of patients who suffer from bone-marrow suppression have abnormalities in TPMT, suggesting that other genes may be involved. https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/news/genetic-test-improves-safety-of-inflammatory-bowel-disease-treatments-316005?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=70295547&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--1SO06SmFasRsbN4B9Zals9c7bSuZWBJoq1XQL5B_vEMMQPQx0g0Hs1DDA8yx9z2awXo_0Z0PUvNkYn6VOfQHD_jhKMw&_hsmi=70295547