Center For Technology Commercialization

Diagnostic Classificiation of Esophagitis

(CHMC Ref. Id: 2005-0401)

Overview:

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an emerging worldwide disease and growing health problem. The primary symptoms of EoE (chest and abdominal pain, dysphagia, heartburn, vomiting, and food impaction) are also observed in patients with chronic esophagitis (CE), including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). EoE poses considerable diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Distinguishing EE from CE/GERD is important since EoE patients typically do not respond to anti-GERD therapy, but rather respond to anti-inflammatory therapy, such as glucocorticoids, and/or allergen elimination. It is also important to be able to identify patients in remission from EoE.

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's have discovered a method for diagnosing EoE and distinguishing it from CE comprising examining the expression profiles of 574 genes from esophageal biopsy tissue from patients with EoE. They have developed a transcriptome comprising these 574 genes significantly expressed differentially in EoE. The most induced transcript in EoE was eotaxin-3; levels of eotaxin-3 strongly correlated with disease severity and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the eotaxin-3 gene conferred disease susceptibility.

Applications:

• Diagnostic for eosinophilic esophagitis disease
• Diagnostic for distinguishing EoE from CE/GERD and normal individuals
• A biomarker for monitoring therapeutic effectiveness in EoE patients

Advantages:

• Non-invasive, less expensive method of diagnosing EoE
• Can distinguish between types of esophagitis
• Provides a biomarker of therapeutic effectiveness

Patent Information:

• Patent Applications Pending

Cincinnati Children's Lead Inventor:

Marc Rothenberg, M.D., PhD