Guts and Glory

In my main wheelhouse, some new and exciting news is brewing: A research team led by Dr. Sebastian Zeissig has found an enzyme essential for intestinal stem cell survival, differentiation, and homeostasis known as SETDB1. It also shows some anti-inflammatory properties. So far, they have been using the usual mouse testing analogs, but have started investigating the genetic profiles of human patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Most patients seem to express this enzyme normally, but many of them do have missense mutations in SETDB1, some of which could lead to a loss of function. This, in turn, may contribute to the pathogenesis of IBD. In case anyone is interested, here’s a link to the publication: https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2020/06/05/gutjnl-2020-321339