The researchers then determined that single administration of ISS-ODN does not provide a long-term protective effect for colitis. They induced the disease in mice, then treated it with the synthetic bacterial DNA which quashed the disease symptoms. Two weeks later, they re-introduced colitis to the mice and found that the protective effects of the ISS-ODN were gone; the disease became active again. When ISS-ODN was administered on an ongoing basis, the mice remained disease free.

May 18-22, at the annual meeting of the American Association of Gastroenterology in San Francisco, Raz and Rachmilewitz will present their findings. In addition, they will describe follow-up studies in lab cultures. The investigators took biopsies from the colons of both Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis human patients, placed the tissue in culture dishes and added ISS-ODN. The team noticed an impressive reduction in the generation of molecules that lead to inflammation in human tissue.

'"/>

Contact: Sue Pondrom
spondrom@ucsd.edu
619-543-6163
University of California - San Diego
29-Apr-2002