Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Focus on Molecular Research

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and relapsing inflammatory disorder of the GI tract that affects nearly 1 in 100 people in the US and exhibits increasing worldwide prevalence. The etiology of IBD is incompletely understood, but involves a dysregulated immune response to gut microbiota engendered by environmental triggers in genetically susceptible individuals. Modern molecular techniques have partially elucidated the underlying mechanisms of this multifactorial disease. GWAS studies have implicated over 200 genetic susceptibility factors in IBD, whose underlying functions are still being investigated. Shotgun metagenomic and 16s RNA sequencing have characterized microbial dysbiosis associated with IBD. Immunophenotyping, spatial transcriptomics, and whole- and single-cell RNA sequencing have shed light on the interplay of immune cells within affected tissue, while enabling the phenotyping of IBD patients. Proteomic, lipidomic, and metabolomic analyses have identified circulating biomarkers and possible therapeutic targets. Nonetheless, while there exist several recently approved biologic and targeted therapies for IBD, these exhibit a consistent therapeutic ceiling of approximately 50%. The identification of additional biomarkers, actionable pathways, and novel therapeutics is needed.

This Special Issue aims to report the latest findings in the molecular biology of IBD. These studies can involve any modern molecular technique, such as proteomic, phosphoproteomic, lipidomic, or metabolomic analyses; genetic and gene expression analyses including spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA sequencing; mechanistic investigations involving animal and organoid models; and microbiological analyses including 16s RNA or shotgun metagenomic sequencing.

Dr. David Meriwether
Dr. Hon Wai Koon
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• inflammatory bowel disease
• gut microbiota
• genomic sequencing
• proteomic
• lipidomic
• metabolomic
• therapy
• biomarker
• animal and organoid model