Massive Grant Awarded To Children's Hospital In Hartford

Courtesy of Connecticut Children's

Hartford, CT — A medical researcher at a prominent children's hospital in Hartford was awarded a massive grant to study Crohn's disease in children.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Dr. Jeffrey S. Hyams, division Head of gastroenterology and an expert in Crohn’s disease, a $14 million, five-year grant to investigate the triggers behind the chronic intestinal inflammation seen in Crohn’s Disease and why some children respond quickly to current therapies and others do not.

This is the largest grant awarded to Connecticut Children’s in its history and will help doctors nationally to collect substantial data on pediatric Crohn’s diseases patients.

Hyams and his colleagues from children’s hospitals across the U.S. hope to match specific therapies to the biology of each newly diagnosed pediatric patient.

“Two decades ago, we saw about 70 cases per year at Connecticut Children’s, and now that number has doubled. While there are many theories as to why, much evidence suggests that Western diets that are high in fat, sugars,and preservatives, as well as early life antibiotic exposure may be significant risk factors predisposing to the development of Crohn’s disease," said Hyams. “While most of our patients are teenagers, we are also seeing an increasing number of children diagnosed under the age of 10 years.”

The grant will support a five-year study that will involve 27 leading pediatric centers in North America.

The goal is to eventually enroll 900 kids while targeting 550 of them for the specific therapies. Nearly 50 of these children will be from Connecticut.

Crohn’s disease is a disorder in which inflammation (swelling, redness) arises in the gastrointestinal system causing abdominal pain, diarrhea and bleeding.

Its cause is currently unknown but thought to be due to an abnormal response of the immune system (white blood cells) lining the intestines to the trillions of bacteria that reside there.

Over the past two decades there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children with this disorder.

“This study is the culmination of over 20 years of cooperative work by the leading experts in pediatric Crohn’s disease in the United States and Canada. We have a dream team of clinicians, research coordinators, and scientists who will be studying results in over 500 newly diagnosed children who are treated in a standard fashion,” said Hyams.

“By examining how inflammation is regulated and the interaction of the body’s immune system with the intestinal microbiome we hope to better understand why some children rapidly get better and others do not respond to therapy. This is the goal of precision or personalized medicine.”

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