The I-AM-GUT Project will investigate the role of maternal adrenomedullin (AM), a hormone naturally produced in the body, in bacterial colonisation of the gut in early-life, thus affecting gut development, health, and future susceptibility to suffer from intestinal disorders. This project also aims to test the efficacy of AM as a biomarker for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
IBD is a chronic disease characterised by relapsing episodes of gastrointestinal inflammation. It has become a global disease with over 3 million patients only in Europe. The financial costs of the disease are, in general, high with an estimated €4.6-5.6 billion per year in Europe. However, these estimates do not factor the "real" price of IBD, which can impede career aspirations, instil social stigma and impair quality of life in patients (with 20-25% of European patients experiencing continuous symptoms, such as diarrhoea, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, joint pain, weight loss, without permanent relief). Studies addressing IBD have increased exponentially in the last decades, but its causes and pathogenesis remains largely unkown, especially at the molecular level. These highlight the need for research aimed to predict the evolution of IBD and for the discovery of new biomarkers for diagnosis, which will result in the development of innovative prevention strategies and treatments to manage this complex disease.
Several scientific studies have indicated that an adequate establishment of bacteria composition (i.e. microbiota) in our intestines during early life and its maintenance throughout childhood is crucial for developing a healthy gut and to reduce the risk of developing certain disease conditions later in life. As previously mentioned, AM is a hormone that is beneficial for the gut and is involved in the promotion of a healthy microbiota by being a potent killer agent of harmful bacteria and promoter of beneficial bacteria in the gut. AM is also detected at high concentrations in all body fluids and secretions, including the mammal's milk, but the role of AM found in the milk for intestinal health and disease is currently unknown.
