The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received a grant of more than $4 million from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to support an innovative research program aimed at understanding the early stages of Crohn’s disease before overt symptoms appear .
Headed by the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences together with Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology in the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, the study will be conducted in collaboration with *Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
This initiative will establish the “PROMISE Consortium” (PREDICTION and PREVENTION through Omics, Microbiome, Immune System, and Environment), pioneering research into the early stages of Crohn’s disease before clinical symptoms appear. It is the first consortium to comprehensively investigate the prognostic and preventive aspects through omic and microbiome-related, immunological and environmental factors.
The study, “Defining the pre-disease phase of Crohn’s disease: Prediction and prevention,” will first focus on analyzing blood-based biomarkers in healthy people before they develop Crohn’s disease, comparing them to those who remain disease-free.
By evaluating blood samples collected before diagnosis in multiple cohorts, the goal is to identify unique early biomarkers, distinguishing this initiative from conventional approaches that focus on symptomatic stages.
The main patient collections are the PREDICTS study cohort (Crohn’s disease incidence in the Defense Medical Surveillance System), the Nurses Health Study (a prospective cohort of 250,000 health professionals reporting medical conditions over 30 years), and the Genetic, Environmental and Microbial Project Cohort (healthy first-degree relatives of Crohn’s patients who later developed the disease).
Motivated by the current limitations of Crohn’s treatments, effective in only about half of patients, our research seeks to redefine our understanding of the origins of the disease. “Rather than focusing solely on symptom management, our work aims to predict and prevent the development of Crohn’s.”
Inga Peter, PhD, Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Icahn Mount Sinai and Co-Principal Investigator
In collaboration with Co-Principal Investigators Jean-Frédéric Colombel, MD, Ken Croitoru, MDCM, and Hamed Khalili, MD, MPH, the team seeks to revolutionize the management of Crohn’s by identifying biomarkers for increased disease risk. This could enable early monitoring, intervention and prevention strategies. Furthermore, insights into Crohn’s triggers and pathways may lead to innovative and more effective treatments for patients with established disease. Dr. Colombel is the Mount Sinai Icahn Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology). Dr. Croitoru is Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto. and Dr. Halili is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“We are grateful for the generous support from the Helmsley Charitable Trust for our research. This initiative aims to transform healthcare by focusing on the prediction and prevention of Crohn’s disease, potentially making a significant impact on people at risk or facing the challenges of the condition” , says Dr. Colombel.
In addition to addressing important research questions, the grant will also fund an international conference aimed at bringing together many researchers working with other pre-disease groups from around the world to devise and advance strategies to prevent and treat Crohn’s disease.
*Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is not part of the Mount Sinai Health System.
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