Environmental factors
At its surfaces (skin and mucosal membranes, respectively) the human body is confronted with many aggressive environmental factors. Therefore these superficial tissues possess special defense mechanisms that make up a barrier against the environment. When the function of this barrier is disturbed chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract may occur like Chron´s disease and Colitis ulcerosa.
These illnesses are so-called polygenetic diseases meaning that multiple genetic factors have to be present to promote their development. Beside this genetic precondition it is very likely that environmental factors play a crucial role. Diet and lifestyle of the 20th century´s people have changed dramatically probably being one cause for the rise in numbers of diseases due to environmental factors.
Scientists of the NGFN investigate the genetic and environmental basis and how genetics and environmental factors work together to cause human diseases like asthma, allergies or colitis. Aim is the development of new procedures for analyzing genetic variations in groups of patients with specific illnesses, to identify “inflammation genes” or similarities between diseases to design new strategies for the prevention and treatment of many illnesses.
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