Bench to Bedside Research in Pediatric Digestive Diseases Yields Results
What started as a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded "mini-center" in 2003 has grown into a thriving research center that integrates digestive diseases research into ongoing patient care. Based at Cincinnati Children's, the Cincinnati Digestive Health Center (DHC) is now one of only 16 Digestive Disease Research Core Centers funded by the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases – and the only one dedicated to pediatric digestive diseases research.
The DHC includes investigators from 11 divisions at Cincinnati Children's and seven departments at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Since 2003, the number of investigators has grown from 33 to 58. In the same period, funding for digestive diseases research has nearly doubled, from $12.5 million to $22 million.
Mitchell Cohen, MD, professor of pediatrics, directs the center, which recently received a $5.6 million grant over five years from the NIH. Researchers are dedicated to the central theme that understanding the molecular mechanisms that control development of the gastrointestinal tract and liver will result in strategies to correct intestinal, nutritional and liver disease.
The DHC's strength lies in research into chronic gastrointestinal diseases. Efforts focus in four areas: chronic liver disease; digestive organ failure and transplantation; inflammatory and diarrheal diseases, especially inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders; and obesity.
Close interaction among researchers encourages them to bring important questions from the bedside to the laboratory.
Close interaction among researchers encourages them to bring important questions from the bedside to the laboratory, enabling physicians to advance digestive diseases care based on the children they and their colleagues see.
Three interrelated research cores encourage collaboration and assist investigators. The Gene Expression and Sequencing Core prepares samples for gene analysis. The Integrative Morphology Core provides consultation and technical support, including histology and electron microscopy. The Bioinformatics Core assists investigators in assessing the functional significance of genes and biological pathways. A new Clinical Component will assist clinical researchers, and an Administrative Core will provide pilot and feasibility grants, as well as funding nationally prominent guest speakers.
Already, research fostered by the original mini-center has produced significant findings. Jorge Bezerra, MD, professor of pediatrics and DHC associate director, has developed the first gene chip for use in the early diagnosis of at least five hereditary liver diseases, to detect genetic causes of jaundice in children and adults, and potentially to lead to personalized treatment options.
Ted Denson, MD, is studying molecular signaling in IBD to determine new approaches to therapy and ways to predict a child's response to therapy. Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD, has discovered the first gene associated with eosinophilic esophagitis, one of a number of eosinophil-related diseases in which the body produces abnormally large amounts of specialized white blood cells that can lead to allergyrelated illnesses.
