Rahma Elmahdi
Longitudinal Characterization of the Systemic Inflammatory Bowel Disease Virome
Rahma Elmahdi, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, has received a Lundbeck Foundation Early-Career Clinician Scientist grant worth DKK 2.462.346 kr.
About the project
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic and often disabling, immune-mediated disorders that are increasing in incidence in Denmark. IBDs are commonly diagnosed in young people and can require life-long therapy with immunosuppressive medications, and even surgical removal of damaged parts of the bowel. IBD is caused by an inappropriate immune activation against commensal microorganisms resulting in damaging inflammation of the gut. Systemic viral infections play a pivotal role in training the immune system. However, their role in the development of IBD has not yet been systematically investigated.
In this project, Rahma Elmahdi and fellow researchers will use phage display analysis to investigate the association between viral exposure over time and the development of IBD. They will build a phage display library, representing peptide epitopes from the entire human virome (viruses known to infect humans). The phage display library will be used to test blood samples, accessible through the Danish National Biobank, from IBD patients at 10 and 5 years before disease onset, and after diagnosis, along with matched blood samples from healthy controls.
The research group will screen for antibodies indicative of previous viral infection. Statistical analysis will then be undertaken to characterize the IBD virome by quantifying the presence or absence of specific viral antibodies in pre- and post-diagnosis IBD samples, compared with matched healthy controls. Finally, Rahma Elmahdi will link these data to the Danish National Health Registries to investigate whether the IBD virome can help us predict disease development, severity, or response to treatment.
