Congratulations Dr. Zaugg and team

Exclusive enteral nutrition therapy (EEN, where patients receive all calories needed through formula and do not eat regular food) is used in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to induce and maintain remission by reducing inflammation of the gut and improving nutrition. It can be also used in adults with IBD, specifically frail elderly IBD patients suffering from additional diseases such as diabetes, heart failure or cancer, where the administration of strong medications with adverse side-effects needs to be minimized as much as possible.

 In this proposal, Dr. Zaugg’s team will study a novel EEN formula containing a specific mixture of fatty acids that they developed in the past five years in their laboratories. It has unique properties, namely strong anti-inflammatory effects combined with beneficial effects on both sugar and fat metabolism in the whole body. It also boosts the immune system to efficiently counteract potentially dangerous infections. It is their hope that this novel treatment will induce remission in IBD patients more quickly and will result in a more sustained maintenance of remission.

 The unique mixture of fatty acids will be tested in a mouse model where they use chemicals to induce acute inflammation of the bowel mimicking IBD conditions. In these studies, they will measure gut inflammation and leakiness and also identify very specific bioactive metabolites of the administered fatty acids collectively called oxylipins and test their causal role in eliciting the beneficial effects.

 As some patients with severe IBD develop intestinal failure and are ultimately dependent on intravenous nutrition (total parenteral nutrition, TPN), they will further test the unique mixture of fatty acids in an intravenous nutrition mouse model where they compare their formula with a commercially available standard one.

 These studies will serve as proof-of-concept that the unique mixture of fatty acids is indeed beneficial in IBD and superior to currently available standard therapies (EEN and TPN).

 The data collected will provide the scientific evidence necessary to initiate clinical studies in IBD patients. Dr. Zaugg's team involves collaborations with pediatric gastroenterology and immunology.