People may inherit ’gut’ bacteria that cause Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis

Discovery is another step toward prevention and treatment of 1.6 million Americans with inflammatory bowel disease A new study by an international team of researchers shows for the first time that people may inherit some of the intestinal bacteria that cause Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively know as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The study , recently published in Genome Medicine, also confirmed that antibiotics could worsen the imbalance in the gut microbes. About 1.6 million Americans suffer from Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Understanding the causes of these diseases is another step toward prevention and treatment. "The intestinal bacteria, or 'gut microbiome,' you develop at a very young age, can have a big impact on your health for the rest of your life," said the study's lead author Dan Knights, a University of Minnesota assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Biotechnology Institute. "We have found groups of genes that may play a role in shaping the development of imbalanced gut microbes." Knights and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota worked with collaborators at Harvard, MIT, University of Toronto and University Medical Center Groningen in one of the largest international studies of its kind. The researchers examined three independent cohorts of a total of 474 adults with IBD who live in Boston, Mass.