This thesis was aimed to deepen our understanding of the key factors underlying IBD, focusing primarily on the study of two main factors underlying IBD: immunome and microbiota. Regarding the immunome, I focused on APCs, as they are crucial regulators of intestinal homeostasis. In particular, cDCs play a pivotal role in shaping the type of response elicited against antigens (tolerogenic against commensals and inflammatory against pathogens, in health conditions), which led us to hypothesize that they may also be therapeutic targets of some drugs (specifically tofacitinib), used in IBD treatment (UC in this case). Furthermore, given the importance of the gut microbiota in maintaining intestinal homeostasis and its involvement in IBD pathogenesis, this thesis also aimed to characterize the faecal and intestinal mucosal-associated microbiome in human samples, with the final goal of identifying bacterial and fungal patterns and potential faecal biomarkers.
Elisa Arribas Rodríguez (Wed,) studied this question.