Microbiome - IBS and Chronic Pain

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder of the gastrointestinal tract affecting ~11% of the global population. Chronic visceral pain (CVP) is the most debilitating symptom associated with IBS. Despite this burden of disease, effective therapies for CVP associated with IBS are lacking. The first step in finding new treatments is understanding how pain from the gut is generated and transmitted to the brain via the microbiome-gut-brain axis and determining how these processes change in IBS. The Visceral Pain Research Group, led by Professor Stuart Brierley at SAHMRI is working in conjunction with SAGC to fill this knowledge gap. The goal is to identify changes in the molecular profile of precise cell types within the microbiome-gut-brain axis to determine how changes to these molecular profiles drive altered function and generate the abnormal pain signalling characteristic of IBS.

Using well-established models of IBS, in combination with state-of-the-art techniques (including genetic approaches, retrograde nerve tracing and FACS sorting), the Visceral Pain Research Group has isolated key cell types in the microbiome-gut-brain axis. The SAGC has created mRNA-Seq libraries from these single cell suspensions and have been sequencing them since the project’s inception. Together, we have processed more than a dozen experimental cohorts and are currently working through the bioinformatic analysis to interpret our results. With this ground-breaking project, we aim to identify novel targets and therapeutic strategies to relieve CVP, ultimately improving the quality of life of IBS patients.