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Background

Crohn's and Colitic Foundation of America reports that 1.6 million Americans (1 in 200) suffer from Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) with 70,000 new cases diagnosed every year. There are no screening tests available at present for IBDs and their diagnosis includes colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy and small bowel follow through. Here, we present, as a screening tool for colitis, a spectroscopic technique to identify specific spectral markers in serum. This will provide the Physician with preliminary information, which can be used as a screening technique for advanced testing. This will reduce the patient inconvenience and costs associated with performing frequent advanced tests and the possibility of individualized treatment.

Methods

Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was performed and validated using serum samples for colitis mouse models: Interleukin 10 knockout and Dextran Sodium Sulfate-induced colitis in order to identify spectral marker unique to colitis. Spectroscopic measurements were also performed on serum samples from extra intestinal inflammation mouse (Arthritis) and metabolic syndrome mouse models to demonstrate the specificity of the screening technique.

Results

Two spectral markers at 1033 (Glucose) and 1076 cm−1 (Mannose) were identified that clearly differentiate colitic from control serum samples. The glucose peak was common to arthritis and colitis; however, the mannose peak was unique to colitis, showing the specificity of this marker to colitis. Metabolic syndrome samples do not show any differentiation at the 2 spectral markers.

Conclusions

A low cost, low-risk, simple and minimally invasive technique was demonstrated as an effective tool to screen for colitis in serum. The use of metabolic syndrome and arthritis mouse model indicated the specificity of the mannose peak for colitis. This potential technology can be further developed into a personalized diagnostic tool in which patient-to-patient differences in molecular signatures would allow the assessment of disease status and personalized drug management. This technique could also be extended to detect other medical conditions such as arthritis, viral or bacterial infections, allergies etc. Additional work is currently performed including, (1) increased sample sizes, (2) specificity of diagnosis to other IBDs such as collagenous and lymphocytic colitis and Crohn's disease.

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Copyright © 2016 Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America, Inc.
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