Methods for diagnosing and treating inflammatory bowel disease
AssigneeMeharry Medical College
InventorAmosy M'Koma
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Abstract
Methods and materials are disclosed for testing biomarkers in a subject suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are described herein. Such detection can be useful for diagnosing and treating ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), two forms of IBD that are otherwise difficult to distinguish. The method includes measuring the level of one or more of several biomarkers, including HD5 or MMP-7, which are expressed differentially in patents with UC and CD. A treatment may be based on the determination of whether the subject has ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.
Claims9
A method of diagnosing and treating at least one of ulcerative colitis, severe ulcerative colitis, or Crohn's disease in a patient suffering from or at risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), said method comprising:
- obtaining a sample from the patient;
- measuring at least one of the expression of MMP-7 and the concentration of MMP-7 in the sample;
- comparing the expression of MMP-7 or the concentration of MMP-7 in the sample to a benchmark value that is typical of a subject afflicted with Crohn's disease and not suffering from ulcerative colitis or severe ulcerative colitis;
- and
- either
- diagnosing Crohn's disease if the expression of MMP-7 or the concentration of MMP-7 in the sample does not significantly exceed the benchmark value and performing a non-surgical intervention on the patient to treat the Crohn's disease, wherein the non-surgical intervention comprises administration of a drug;
- or
- diagnosing ulcerative colitis or severe ulcerative colitis if the expression of MMP-7 or the concentration of MMP-7 in the sample significantly exceeds the benchmark value and performing a surgical intervention on the patient to treat the ulcerative colitis or severe ulcerative colitis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.