The GEM team found that specific immune responses detectable in blood may predict the future development of Crohn’s disease years before symptoms emerge. By analyzing stored serum samples from first-degree relatives of individuals who later developed the disease, they identified elevated IgG antibodies to a conserved domain of bacterial flagellins that were present long before clinical onset. These findings raise the possibility of earlier identification of at-risk individuals and may inform future strategies for prevention and intervention.
Richard Y. Wu, Mingyue Xue, Qing Zhao, Sean Jeong, Anne M. Griffiths, Levinus A. Dieleman, A. Hillary Steinhart, Guy Aumais, Brian Bressler, Remo Panacionne, Colette Deslandres, David R. Mack, Charles N. Bernstein, John K. Marshall, Dan Turner, Wei Xu, Lennard W. Duck, Charles O. Elson, Williams Turpin, Sun-Ho Lee, Kenneth Croitoru. Clinical Gasteroenterology and Hepatology. 11 Jan 2026.