New targets for therapeutic treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

The group of Prof. Nicola Harris (Swiss Vaccine Research Institute - http://harris-lab.epfl.ch/) recently published a paper identifying an important role for a novel tumor necrosis factor super family (TNFSF) member in regulating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The group used mice deficient in the TNFSF member HVEM in experimental models of IBD to investigate its role in the disease process. Two models of IBD were employed to model innate versus adaptive immune responses and in both models the absence of HVEM resulted in a significant reduction in inflammation and a virtual absence of disease. These findings highlight the important role of HVEM stimulatory pathway in promoting IBD and indicate that therapeutic targeting of this pathway may hold promise for the treatment of this dehabilitating disease.

Corinne Schaer et al. PLoS ONE 6(4): e18495. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018495 (2011)