A study in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology reported that data using GeneNews’ Sentinel Principle platform technology identified complex changes in blood gene expression patterns that were differentially regulated between active and inactive Crohn’s disease.
via biotuesday.ca
Because so many Crohn's symptoms are objective and require patients to accurately report things they would rather not keep good track of, doctors and researchers can be frustrated by the lack of an objective way to measure the disease activity.
Yes, its easy to see when someone is really really flaring and needing hospitalization, throwing up, going to the bathroom 30 times a day, fever, losing weight, etc. But between flares in times of remission, most sufferers still report symptoms like abdominal pain, the big D, body aches, fatigue. As you can see so many of these are subjective it makes it hard to measure in a scientific way.
That's why this new study is so cool - they have been able to see differences in blood gene expression patterns to see the difference between active and inactive Crohn's disease. I have no idea what "blood gene expression pattern" are but I can see how this news could signal a better way to track patient's status, especial when testing new drugs.
