New research once again highlights the close link between the brain and our gut health, revealing that symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and anxiety may have a common genetic origin, a finding that would help develop new treatments to combat these health problems. The study, in which more than 50,000 individuals with IBS have participated, has been published in Nature Genetics.
Irritable bowel syndrome is a very frequent pathology, since it is estimated that one in 10 people suffers from it, and among its most characteristic symptoms are pain and abdominal distension and intestinal alterations that can deteriorate the quality of life of those affected. . It is often hereditary and it is also more common for people with a tendency to anxiety to present it. The causes of irritable bowel are not well understood, but now an international team of researchers coordinated by scientists from the United Kingdom (University of Cambridge) and Spain has identified several genes that would be involved in its origins.
The researchers analyzed genetic data from 40,548 people with IBS from the UK Biobank and 12,852 from the Bellygenes initiative (a global study that aims to identify genes linked to this syndrome) and compared them with 433,201 people without IBS (controls). The analyzes were repeated with de-identified data from the genomics company 23andMe Inc., provided by clients who consented to the research, and in this case 205,252 people with IBS were compared with 1,384,055 controls.
People with IBS and anxiety were more likely to have been treated with antibiotics frequently during their childhood
The researchers found that there were six genetic differences (influencing the genes NCAM1, CADM2, PHF2/FAM120A, DOCK9, CKAP2/TPTE2P3 and BAG6) that were more common in people with IBS than in those who acted as controls. Because IBS symptoms affect the gut, you’d expect genes linked to increased IBS risk to be expressed there, but what they found was that most of the altered genes seem to have more obvious functions in the brain, and possibly in the nerves that supply the intestine, than in the intestine itself.
They further discovered that the same genetic make-up that puts people at higher risk of developing IBS also increases the risk of common mood disorders, such as anxiety, depression and neuroticism, even insomnia. The study authors, however, have stressed that this does not mean that anxiety causes IBS symptoms, or vice versa.
Genes that cause symptoms in the brain and gut
“IBS is a common problem and its symptoms are real and debilitating. Although irritable bowel syndrome occurs more often in people prone to anxiety, we don’t think one causes the other; Our study shows that these conditions have shared genetic origins, and affected genes possibly lead to physical changes in brain or nerve cells that in turn cause symptoms in the brain and symptoms in the gut,” said Professor Miles Parkes. of the University of Cambridge, co-principal investigator of the study and consultant gastroenterologist.
“The affected genes possibly lead to physical changes in the brain or nerve cells that in turn cause symptoms in the brain and symptoms in the gut.”
It was also observed that people with IBS and anxiety were more likely to have been treated with antibiotics frequently during their childhood, so the authors of the work have hypothesized that the repeated use of antibiotics in childhood may increase the risk IBS (and perhaps anxiety as well) by upsetting the balance of your gut flora, a bacterial population that influences nerve cell development and mood.
Currently, the treatment of irritable bowel is quite varied and consists of modifying the patient’s diet, prescribing drugs directed at the intestine or the brain and carrying out cognitive-behavioral interventions, but the discovery of genes that influence the appearance of this syndrome can help to develop new therapies, says study lead author Chris Eijsbouts of the University of Oxford: “Even genetic changes that have only subtle effects in IBS can provide clues as to pathways to target therapeutically. Unlike individual genetic changes themselves, drugs that target pathways that tell us can have a considerable impact on disease, as we know from other disease areas.”
Co-Principal Investigator Dr Luke Jostins of the University of Oxford concludes: “We anticipate that future research will build on our findings, both by investigating identified target genes, and by exploring shared genetic risk between conditions to improve understanding of disordered brain-gut interactions that characterize IBS”.
.
