Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which comprises the inflammatory conditions Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, affects about 1.6 million Americans, many of whom cannot be effectively treated. This is mostly due to a lack of understanding of what exactly causes the increased inflammation, fibrosis, and compromised intestinal barrier that underlie this disease and its manifold symptoms, ranging from severe abdominal pain, to diarrhea, weight loss, rectal bleeding and anemia, to anxiety and depression.

Many of these symptoms also tend to be stronger in women than in men and they increase their risk of preterm birth during pregnancy, making IBD a particular concern in Women’s Health. In addition, IBD patients have a significantly increased incidence of cancers in their intestinal tract.