Project description
Genetic analyses lead the way to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic condition that causes inflammation in the intestine and includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Its high prevalence necessitates effective preventive and treatment strategies. Analyses of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) help identify genetic risk variants that influence the expression levels of nearby genes (cis) or distant genes (trans) and may serve as potential drug targets. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the TRIQ project will analyses transcriptome data from IBD-relevant cell types in 400 individuals to identify trans-eQTL effects that drive IBD risk. These insights aim to pinpoint druggable genes for innovative IBD therapies.
Objective
Inflammatory Bowel Disease, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, now afflict close to 1/250 individuals in industrialized societies. There is a pressing need for effective preventive means as well as curative drugs. Cis-eQTL analyses are uncovering a growing list of genes that are perturbed by IBD risk variants detected by GWAS, constituting a list of prime drug targets for the pharmaceutical industry. Cis-eQTL effects trigger downstream effects – both within the same (intracellular) and other cell types (intercellular) – that culminate in disease declaration. Some of these downstream effects are accompanied by changes in transcript levels referred to as trans-eQTL effects. The aim of the TRIQ project is to take advantage of the CEDAR-II dataset – transcriptome data for up to 400 individuals in > 75 IBD-relevant cell types – to identify trans-eQTL effects that mediate IBD predisposition. The genes that are perturbed by these trans-effect will include druggable targets that constitute prime targets for the development of new IBD therapies.
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
4000 Liege
Belgium