Amino acid deprivation sensing pathway in the regulation of innate-inflammatory responses : an approach to understand pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis

Abstract

1.1 Ulcerative Colitis: Ulcerative Colitis (UC), and Crohn’s disease (CD) are the two major clinical forms of Intestinal bowel disease (IBD) which are characterized by chronic, recurrent inflammation of the gastrointestinal-tract (Kappelman et al. 2007). UC and CD are associated with high morbidity along with decreased quality of life due to enormous illness burden (Ferguson, Sedgwick, and Drummond 1994). Although UC and CD share many clinical features such as bloody stools, diarrhea, fever, weight loss, and fatigue- each has distinct features (Head, Jurenka, and Ascp 2003), For instance, CD affects every part of the gastrointestinal tract with the development of clinical manifestations including abscesses, fistula, and strictures, typically leaving discontinuous segments of normal tissue. While UC is restricted to the colon, with the clinical manifestations of mucosal inflammation and ulceration that ranges from rectum to large intestine (Silverberg et al. 2005). In addition to intestinal features patient may also experience extraintestinal manifestations including musculoskeletal, eyes, and dermal related complications