Abstract
Mental (anxiety and depression) and non-mental (fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome) comorbidities are highly prevalent in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), with over 60 million Europeans affected, mostly women, by devastating manifestations, impaired treatment and quality of life. Estimated costs are €43 billion/year for IBS, mostly derived from comorbid IBS. Our hypothesis is that comorbid IBS represents a distinct clinical entity, arising from distorted brain-gut communication with a unique, specific, but undefined pathophysiological origin, differing from IBS alone. DISCOvERIE was created to advance the understanding of its causative mechanisms. Identification, validation and comprehension of these mechanisms will help stratify these patients into distinct clinical phenotypes, improving disease management, increasing quality of life and reducing socioeconomic costs. In particular, we will deliver specific comorbid-IBS physiopathological knowledge as clinical guides and protocols for newly created, hospital-based, transversal and multidisciplinary units for implementing personalized management and wellbeing of European citizens and to position Europe as a global leader in comorbid IBS personalised medicine. We will also deliver prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers and patents, technological innovation via e-health tools for personalized assessment of clinical/nutritional/physical activity and disseminate new knowledge widely. Impact will be assessed by recording media presence, scientific publications and by monitoring healthrelated quality of life of patients and promoting cost-effective care. To this end we have created a user board involving patient associations, clinical specialists, European healthcare experts, large pharma and SMEs representatives. We will also promote the creation of a European Reference Network for comorbid IBS involving healthcare providers across Europe.
Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Giovanni Barbara
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche
Coordinator:
Institut Catala De La Salut(Spain)
Other Participants:
Universitatea De Medicina Si Farmacie Iuliu Hatieganu Cluj-Napoca
(Romania)
Vib Nucleomics Core
(Belgium)
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna
(Italy)
Stichting Katholieke Universiteit
(Netherlands)
Hycult biotechnology bv
(Netherlands)
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
(Belgium)
Maastricht University
(Netherlands)
NanoString Tecnologies, Inc.
(United States of America)
Johann Wolfgang Goethe - Universitaet Frankfurt Am Main
(Germany)
Semmelweis Egyptem - Semmelweis University
(Hungary)
Byte Factory Systems Sl
(Spain)
Cliclab Transformative Agent Sl
(Spain)
Followhealth Sl
(Spain)
University College Cork
(Ireland)
Anaxomics Biotech, S.L.
(Spain)
Goeteborg Universitet
(Sweden)
Emergentec Biodevelopment Gmbh
(Austria)
Apotheke l Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Germania
(Germany)
Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 6.000.000,00
Project Duration in months: 65
Start Date:
01/01/2020
End Date:
31/05/2025
Cordis webpage
Project website
This project contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 848228