December 1-7 marks Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week, shedding light on the challenges associated with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both classified as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). These conditions involve uncontrolled inflammation in the gut, and despite ongoing research, their precise causes remain uncertain, with no current cure available.
Globally, it is estimated that up to 10 million people are affected by IBD, and there is a noticeable increase in cases in newly industrialized regions and among the youth in developed nations.
In an effort to better understand these conditions, the GlycanTrigger EU Project has emerged as a research initiative focused on investigating how changes in glycans in the gut mucosa surface (sugar chains that cover most of our cells and tissues including the intestine) impact the communication between gut bacteria and the body, leading to intestinal inflammation. The project aims to comprehend the entire process with the goal of identifying ways to predict and prevent IBD.
