Sidsel Støy
IL-22 as mediator of response to faecal microbiota transplantation in liver cirrhosis
Sidsel Støy, Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology at Aarhus University Hospital, has received a Lundbeck Foundation Early-Career Clinician Scientist grant worth DKK 2,288,097.
About the project
Ten million people world-wide have decompensated liver cirrhosis i.e., complications to liver cirrhosis. Of these 35% will die within one year of their first decompensation. No known treatment alters disease progression.
Sidsel Støy will investigate how the new promising treatment faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) may revert disease progression to improve survival. She expects the immune signal-molecule interleukin (IL)-22 to drive the positive effect, because of her previous research that shows IL-22 is beneficial for these patients through gut and liver repair, and because IL-22 is the key molecule promoting gut-barrier health.
This project is embedded in a national trial initiated by Sidsel Støy and colleagues in 2021. The group of researchers are randomizing 220 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis to FMT or placebo and will be following them for one year. Samples from this trial will be used to perform experiments to link IL-22 to changes in the gut microbiota and the products it produces. In addition, Sidsel Støy will test the usefulness of IL-22 as a biomarker to identify patients who will respond to FMT and also perform a search for other biomarkers.
This project has the potential to improve the treatment and thereby the lives of patients with liver cirrhosis. The establishment of an understanding of FMT’s mode-of-action will enable an optimized and targeted clinical use. Moreover, this project will provide evidence for the therapeutic utility of IL-22 as rescue or add-on treatment for patients with liver cirrhosis.
