# A new model of ILC3-independent innate colitis

> **NIH NIH R01** · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · 2021 · $333,103

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This project is directed at understanding the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases,
which include ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. These chronic debilitating diseases affect
between 1 and 2 million US citizens and have significant health, social and economic impact on
patients. The causes of IBD are not known but likely involve the reaction of the intestinal
immune system to an undefined environmental trigger. The overall objective of this proposal is
to understand the role of innate immune cells in the pathology of inflammatory bowel disease.
The approach is based on a new model of spontaneous innate immune-mediated colitis that we
have recently developed. Colitis occurring spontaneously in the absence of adaptive (T or B
cells) immune cells will allow us to interrogate the specific contributions of innate immunity to
the pathology of inflammatory bowel disease. Studying this model will allow us to interrogate
innate immune cellular, cytokine and signaling mechanisms that contribute to intestinal
inflammation and to investigate how microbes contribute to innate immune inflammation in the
gut. The aims of the work are to (1) Identify the cell and molecular mechanisms of inflammation
in TRAG colitis; (2) Test the efficacy of JAK inhibitors in TRAG colitis; and (3) Identify microbes
exhibiting altered biogeography in the intestine of TRAG mice that induce asialo Gm1+ cells and
are colitogenic. Together these studies have the potential to advance our understanding of
pathological innate immune mechanisms that can cause intestinal inflammation, to identify new
targets for treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, and to understand the mechanism of
action of therapies currently under development as inflammatory bowel disease treatments.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10145667
- **Project number:** 5R01DK120320-03
- **Recipient organization:** INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID L. BOONE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $333,103
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-09 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10145667

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10145667, A new model of ILC3-independent innate colitis (5R01DK120320-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10145667. Licensed CC0.

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