New Link In The Chain Between Bacteria And Inflammatory Bowel Disease

... Inflammatory bowel disease is caused by an inappropriate immune response to bacteria living naturally in the gut, but how bacteria trigger this is not known. A new study has now shown that mice lacking RELM-beta are protected from colitis induced by ingestion of dextran sodium sulfate. RELM-beta activated macrophages to produce pro-inflammatory factors; so, the authors of the study suggest that RELM-beta is one important link between bacteria and the onset of IBD. ...