Mechanisms of anaemia in inflammatory bowel diseases
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), which include ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), are chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Anemia represents the most common complication in IBD, prevailing in 27% of patients with CD and 21% of patients UC. Anemia is associated with poor quality of life, increased rate of hospitalization and deaths in IBD. Anemia in patients with IBD arise due to iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and anemia of inflammation (AI). Most anaemic IBD patients are treated with iron supplementation, but half do not respond to iron supplementation therapies. In this project, we aim to explore the mechanisms of AI to identify possible interventions to treat AI in IBD.
The project will involve mouse model of IBD including experiment colitis and mouse lacking cytokine interleukin-10 and sepsis. The markers of anaemia and erythropoiesis will be analysed by flow cytometry, blood cell count and qRT-PCR.