“Sinai Health researchers have shown a blood test that can predict Crohn’s disease years before symptoms appear, opening the doors to early diagnosis and potentially prevention.

The test measures a person’s immune response to flagellin, a protein found on gut bacteria. This response is elevated in individuals long before they develop Crohn’s Disease, a team led by Dr. Ken Croitoru, a clinician scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, part of Sinai Health, has found…

This study followed 381 first-degree relatives of Crohn’s patients, 77 of whom went on to develop the disease. Among them, 28 individuals – more than a third – had elevated antibody responses. The responses were strongest in siblings, highlighting the role of shared environmental exposure, as previously shown by Dr. Croitoru.

The researchers also confirmed that this pre-disease response to the Lachnospiraceae flagellin was associated with intestinal inflammation and gut barrier dysfunction, both of which are characteristics of Crohn’s disease. The typical timeline from blood sample collection to the pre-disease individuals being diagnosed with Crohn’s was nearly two and a half years.”

From News Medical.