Scientists solve a 30-year mystery behind inflammatory bowel disease — SkimNews
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- University of Oxford scientists, working with Newcastle University and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, identified autoantibodies that neutralize interleukin-10 as a previously unexplained cause of inflammatory bowel disease, publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine.
- A study of more than 4,900 people with IBD found about 3.5% had elevated levels of IL-10-blocking antibodies — detected in both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, but not in healthy individuals.
- 15,000 to 20,000 UK patients are estimated to carry the harmful antibodies, based on IBD prevalence in a country where the condition affects roughly 500,000 people.
- HLA-DRB1*01:03, a genetic variant Oxford scientists linked to severe IBD 30 years ago, was strongly associated with the antibodies; carriers were substantially more likely to produce them, resolving the biological mystery of how the gene drives disease.
- Sophie Hambleton said the work grew from more than a decade of research into rare inherited IL-10 and IL-10-receptor defects in young children with severe IBD, after neutralizing autoantibodies were first spotted in two little girls with colitis.
- Rainer Doffinger said identifying these patients early and treating the underlying malfunction can reduce reliance on biologic therapy, hospital admissions and surgery, with potential NHS savings of many millions of pounds annually.
- Simon Travis called it "the most exciting discovery in a lifetime specialising in IBD", saying the finding opens the way to a blood test that spots affected patients and to treatments targeting the antibodies or the immune cells that produce them.
Why it matters: For the estimated 15,000–20,000 UK patients whose inflammation is driven by IL-10-blocking antibodies, a defined mechanism opens the route to cause-targeted care rather than symptom-led treatment. The researchers report that early identification and targeted therapy can cut biologic use, admissions and surgery, with NHS savings of many millions of pounds a year.
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