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STRIDE Study Aims for Better Treatments for Children With IBD

May 15, 2024 – This month, Seattle Children’s, in partnership with the Allen Institute for Immunology, launched a first-of-its-kind clinical study to better understand how and why inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) begins, with the ultimate goal to provide targeted therapies to children who suffer from IBD. 

IBD — which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis — is a lifelong condition with no current cures; once a person begins treatment, they continue treatment indefinitely. The symptoms of IBD can negatively impact children’s growth and mental health, and lead to missed school and social activities.

Approximately 30% of pediatric IBD patients do not respond to initial treatment and nearly half of patients ultimately lose response over time. Children with IBD typically must try multiple treatment and medication options over time to find one that works best.

The Seattle STRIDE study is the first pediatric trial to deploy novel techniques (single cell spatial transcriptomics and single cell multi-omics) to understand how genes and other molecules behave in individual cells of patients who haven't been treated yet.

Researchers hope that the information gained from Seattle STRIDE study will not only improve treatment options, but also inform the decisions of how to treat individual patients, reducing the number of treatments patients must undergo.

The STRIDE study is led by Dr. Hengqi (Betty) Zheng, principal investigator, Center for Immunity and Immunotherapies, and Dr. David Suskind of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, co-principal investigator.

The trial is recruiting participants ages 6 to 18 years old over a three-year period. Learn more about the STRIDE study. 

A piece of large intestine, biopsied from a pediatric IBD patientA piece of large intestine, biopsied from a pediatric IBD patient, reveals cellular and molecular features used to understand disease activity. These include epithelial cells (green), muscle (dark blue), T cells (lavender and purple), B cells (yellow), monocytes and macrophages (cyan), and cells actively dividing (red). Credit: Jocelin Malone

Seattle Children’s complies with applicable federal and other civil rights laws and does not discriminate, exclude people or treat them differently based on race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin (ancestry), age, disability, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law. Financial assistance for medically necessary services is based on family income and hospital resources and is provided to children under age 21 whose primary residence is in Washington, Alaska, Montana or Idaho.