Researchers from the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) consortium are advancing understanding of diseases that have their origin in early human development. In a new report, they mapped cells in the human gut from early development through to adulthood and uncovered potential drug targets for treating Crohn’s and other inflammatory bowel diseases.

A new large-scale study mapped the cells in the human gut from early development through to adulthood, creating the most comprehensive Cell Atlas of the Gut to date. This revealed that Crohn’s disease may be caused by activation of developmental pathways, and uncovered potential drug targets for treating Crohn’s and other Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. The detailed maps will help explain how the gut forms and functions, and will transform research into intestinal diseases.

The second publication reveals the hugely ambitious plan to create an entire Human Developmental Cell Atlas (HDCA) of all cells that are important for healthy human development. The gut is just one example of the importance of this, and researchers from the Human Cell Atlas Developmental Biological Network and their collaborators worldwide, show how they will chart developing tissues comprehensively in space and time. Key to understanding what happens in early development and how this can affect health or lead to disease, the HDCA is likely to lead to transformations in healthcare.

The gut is a complicated tissue made of multiple cell types, and changes enormously during early development. To understand how the gut develops and functions, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Newcastle University, University of Cambridge and their collaborators within the Human Cell Atlas, studied more than a third of a million individual gut cells^§ from developing tissue and from child and adult donors.

Using cutting edge single-cell genomics and spatial analysis techniques, the team revealed which genes were active in each cell, and created a highly extensive Gut Cell Atlas^§§, through time and across 12 regions of the intestines.

Rasa Elmentaite, first author on the study from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: «By studying multiple regions of the human gut throughout development, childhood and adulthood we’ve created a unique, detailed map of the healthy human gut. This Gut Cell Atlas reveals complex developmental events, including how the immune and nervous systems develop in the healthy gut, and identifies important differences along the intestines. The data is openly available to other researchers studying the gut, and will undoubtedly contribute to future discoveries.»

The study also included gut biopsy tissue from children with Crohn’s Disease. This, in combination with the data from healthy development, is giving new insights into rare and common diseases of the intestines.

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Materials provided by Wellcome Sanger Institute. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.