About
The Inflammatory Intestinal Disease Unit is a multidisciplinary group led from the clinical side by Dr Eugeni Domènech, Head of the Gastroenterology & Hepatology Department and the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Unit at the Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol and by Dr. Josep Manyé Almero, Principal Investigator for Basic and Translational Research and CIBER-EHD Researcher. It carries out translational research. The group is part of the CIBER-EHD Consortium (Spanish Ministry of Science) as well as part of the IBDomics Consortium for genomic research in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases of which Dr. Domènech is the Coordinator for Gastrointestinal diseases.
The Unit has carried out cutting-edge research over the last 25 years which has meant that it has reached a level of excellence in intestinal healthcare and has set a national and international benchmark for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. In recent years the Unit established new lines of research in the field of irritable bowel syndrome and the improvement of therapeutic endoscopy. Understanding, innovating, explaining and training are important and integrated parts of our scientific task with a view to transferring our results to clinical practice. The team combines experts in different skills to ensure that research questions are tackled from the most experimental side (IGTP) to the most clinical side (HUGTP). The research lines are based on innovative research tools, which allow us to generate new hypotheses aimed at the developmentof a more personalized medicine, better therapies and improved patient management.
Research lines
Physiopathology of intestinal inflammatory disease and therapeutic innoation
Genetic and functional characterization of phenotypes relevant to clinical practice
Post-operative recurrence (POR) of Crohn's disease
- Determination of biomarkers for POR from omics studies
- Investigation of the relationship between fibrotic or penetrant complications and the apparition of POR
Loss of response to cortiocosteroids in ulcerative colitis
The objective of this line of research is to use systems biology to understand corticosteroid treatment failure. Researchers will propose new therapeutic tools to combat corticorefractionary responses. They will determine miRNA profiles that can predict the response to therapy.
Neurogastroenterology and Research in endoscopic therapies
This line of research aims to optimize probiotic treatments for irritable bowel syndrome. Pre-clinical studies will be carried out to improve endoscopic treatment with patches for long-term release of cytostatic or anti-inflammatory drugs.
Research projects
ONGOING PROJECTS
Papel de la aerofagia en los trastornos funcionales digestivos
Code: PI14/01703
Investigator principal: Jordi Serra
Start Date: 01/01/2015
End Date: 31/12/2018
Los trastornos funcionales digestivos afectan al 30 % de la población general, son la causa más frecuente de consulta en
gastroenterología, y suponen una gran carga económica tanto por gastos sanitarios directos como indirectos. Los síntomas
relacionados con gas son los más frecuentemente referidos por los pacientes. Actualmente conocemos que el gas producido
durante la fermentación bacteriana juega un papel importante en el desarrollo de los síntomas, pero desconocemos el papel
del gas atmosférico, que es el gas mayoritario en el tubo digestivo. El objetivo de este proyecto es determinar el papel que
juega el gas proveniente de la ingesta en el desarrollo de síntomas abdominales en los pacientes con trastornos funcionales
digestivos, y desarrollar estrategias terapéuticas específicas. Se diseñarán de forma consecutiva protocolos independientes 1.
Se realizará un estudio dosis-respuesta, comparando en grupos de sujetos sanos los efectos de diferentes volúmenes de gas
infundido en el estómago sobre las respuestas motoras y sensoriales. 2. Una vez conocidas las respuestas normales al gas gástrico, se estudiarán grupos de pacientes con trastornos funcionales específicos, en los que se valorarán las repuestas al gas gástrico en estudios paralelos comparados con una cohorte de sujetos sanos. 3. Se realizarán estudios terapéuticos mediante diseño cruzado, randomizado y controlado con placebo. En todos los estudios se realizará una infusión intragástrica de gas y se medirá el gas eructado, mediante manometria-impedanciometria de esófago y bolsa oral de recogida, transito gastro-rectal de gas mediante una cánula rectal, percepción de síntomas mediante un cuestionario y distensión abdominal.
News
A new gene associated with the maintenance of the protective barrier in the intestine has been identified, this is a key factor in Crohn’s disease
A multidisciplinary group of researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Gastroenterology Service of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital and the CIBER-EHD, have used transcriptomics to combine data from public databases and from Crohn's disease patient and controls. They have identified the TMIGD1 gene as having an important role in the loss of the barrier between the cells lining the small intestine and its contents. The discovery throws new light on the mechanism of Crohn's disease and opens the way for more personalized therapies.
The Digestive Inflammatory Pathology Research Group awarded the prize for best research project at the Catalan Digestive Medicine Conference
A study by the Digestive Inflammatory Pathology Research Group at the IGTP was awarded the best basic-translational research study in the Catalan Digestive Medicine Conference 2019. The study presented by Dr Violeta Lorén is within one of the main research lines of the group and centres on understanding, predicting and solving one of the main complications arising from therapy for patients with ulcerative colitis: the failure of glucocorticoid treatment.
Contact
Eugeni Domènech Morral and Josep Manyé Almero
Dr Domènech (+34) 93 497 89 09, Dr Manyé (+34) 93 033 05 33