Author: Bolysbek Dana
Editor: Merentsova Anastasia
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disease of the digestive tract. In many people with Crohn's disease, abdominal fat migrates to the wall of the inflamed small intestine. What causes adipose tissue to “crawl” through the abdomen and envelop the intestines of many patients with this inflammatory bowel disease has remained a mystery to doctors until now.
Creeping fat is often a reference point for surgeons performing a bowel resection on a patient with inflammatory bowel disease because it points to the site of the lesion.
A team of researchers performed in-depth molecular studies of small bowel and adipose tissue biopsies from 11 Crohn's disease patients undergoing surgery. Adipose tissue is more than a storehouse of energy, it is a dynamic endocrine tissue full of immune cells that appear to be triggered in certain cases of inflammatory bowel disease.
Scientists have found that adipose tissue actually responds to bacteria that have migrated from the patient's damaged intestine. They believe that migration and subsequent enveloping of the intestine with adipose tissue is a compensatory reaction of the body in order to "close" the leak in the diseased organ and prevent intestinal bacteria from entering the bloodstream.
However, the presence of fat can contribute to the development of severe bowel scarring or fibrosis, which occurs in 40% of patients with Crohn's disease. In these cases, resection (surgical removal) of parts of the small intestine is used, which also leads to negative consequences for the patient's later life.
The study found the bacterium Clostridium innocuum in the digestive tract, which "prompts" fat to move into the small intestine, disrupting its functional state. In addition, the structure of this infectious agent makes it well suited to lipid-rich environments.
Identification of this pathogen is an important step in improving the quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Further research will focus on developing treatments targeting Clostridium innocuum.
Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-10-medical-mystery-fat-crohn-patients.html
