Nanotechnology offers hope for safer diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease

Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases pose complex challenges for patients and healthcare alike. Science has yet to establish exactly what causes the diseases, but the most common symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, blood in the stool and fever. Nevertheless, difficulties in making the correct diagnosis mean that it can last many years before treatment is started, but with a new nanotechnology presented in a current thesis at Uppsala University, hopes are raised to open new doors in healthcare.

“Today, invasive procedures are required to identify where in the intestine an inflammation is and how active it is. For adult patients, this is a painful process, and for children, hazardous anesthesia awaits, after which available treatments are at best able to ease these painful, limiting and often stigmatizing diseases. In studies of mouse models and human cells, we have succeeded in identifying four proteins that are overexpressed in inflammatory disease, which provided us with the biomarkers needed to take the next step,” says Shno Asad, PhD student at the Department of Pharmacy.

In a second study, Shno Asad, in collaboration with Alexandra Teleki, researcher in drug delivery, developed an antibody-conjugated nanoparticle, designed to bind to the relevant biomarkers. By using nanoparticles that consist of magnetic iron oxide, it is possible to with a magnetic camera both locate where the intestinal inflammation is and its exact degree of activity, information that is necessary to give patients the right drug at the right time.

“In a third, recently completed project, we see in studies in mice how our particles bind as intended to the biomarkers, which is a strong indicator that our technology really works. Still a lot of work remain before we are ready to enter human studies, but our publications are attracting international attention, and when we recently presented our results at a medical congress, we received numerous positive reactions.”

Shno Asad conducted her PhD project within Alexandra Teleki's research group, along the way collaborating with Per Artursson's laboratory for studies with focus on Caco-2 cells, Máté Erdélyi's platform for NMR spectroscopy and Mia Phillipson's research environment for in vivo studies. In addition, the proximity to national competence center SweDeliver's infrastructures has been an important asset, and currently biosamples are gathered at the University Hospital's Gastroenterology section for further analysis and verification of the new method.

“Laying the foundation for a new technology to diagnose inflammatory bowel diseases is an interdisciplinary challenge, so having direct access to the skills and facilities required at Uppsala University and the University Hospital has been absolutely decisive in reaching the point where we are today. Now I hope that our results will eventually pave the way for faster, safer and more effective ways to diagnose and treat this chronic disease,” says Shno Asad.

text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt a o