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T cells play a major role in Crohn's disease / Freiburg researchers show that certain T cells are "exhausted" / Link to severe progression / Possible approach for new diagnostics or therapy

Severe abdominal cramps, diarrhea and vomiting - often lasting for weeks: These are typical symptoms of the chronic inflammatory bowel disease Crohn's disease. The number of people affected has been rising significantly for years. Researchers assume that it is an autoimmune disease in which so-called T cells play an important role. Physicians and scientists at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg have now been able to find a type of killer T cell in patients that can assume a state of exhaustion during acute inflammation and is associated with a less aggressive disease. A lack of exhaustion was associated with a more severe course of the disease. The researchers published their findings in the journal Gastroenterology on June 20, 2022.

"Crohn's disease often progresses in episodes. The course and treatment vary greatly depending on the patient. Our approach provides an important step towards a personalized therapy for Crohn's disease. Based on our findings, diagnostic procedures could be developed that indicate a severe course at an early stage. These cells may also be suitable for a therapeutic approach," says study leader Prof. Dr. Dr. Bertram Bengsch, research group leader at the Department of Medicine II at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg and member of the Collaborative Research Center 1160 IMPATH at the University of Freiburg. The Freiburg researchers examined the tissue of 58 patients using single-cell analysis. "Because there are only very few cells of this type in the blood, the depletion of these cells had not been discovered before. Now that we have characterized the cells, we will be able to search for them much more easily in the future - in a blood sample. This should make diagnostics much easier," continues Bengsch.

"These findings will soon be incorporated into individualized molecular diagnostics for the individual assessment of the disease prognosis of patients with Crohn's disease, which is currently being established at university hospitals in Baden-Württemberg as part of the Centers for Personalized Medicine (ZPM)," adds Prof. Dr. Peter Hasselblatt, Senior Consultant at the Department of Medicine II and Head of the Crohn's and Colitis Outpatient Clinic at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.

Original title of the study: Exhaustion of CD39-expressing CD8+ T cells in Crohn's disease is linked to clinical outcome

DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2022.06.045

Link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2022.06.045

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Dr. Bertram Bengsch
Department of Medicine II (specialties: Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology and Infectiology)
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-32870
bertram.bengsch@uniklinik-freiburg.de