Bile acids and the gut immune system
Official title: Bile acid-dependent intestinal immune regulation
Funded at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic · NIH-11388983 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A study in mice looks at how bile acids influence intestinal immune responses and how gut bacteria, liver, and gut cells talk to each other to shape these signals.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Lebanon, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2026 |
| Project end | April 30, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $796,394 |
| NIH project number | 1R01DK145055-01A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11388983 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are individuals with intestinal or inflammatory gut conditions, or those who may participate in future human studies through related clinical trials or biomarker research.
✕Less likely to help
Healthy individuals not experiencing intestinal inflammation may have limited direct benefit from this specific animal-based research.
What this research studies
This project explores how bile acids in the gut affect immune signals in the intestine, moving beyond single-bile tests to understand the complex bile acid environment. Researchers will quantify intestinal bile acid pools in mice and study how they change during intestinal inflammation, using integrated methods and computational models to map interactions with liver, ileum, and gut microbes. The goal is to reveal how enterohepatic signaling controls inflammation and immune regulation at the intestinal barrier. The work builds on animal models with precise genetic alterations to track how bile acid transport and metabolism shape immune outcomes.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, findings could inform new ways to treat inflammatory gut diseases by targeting bile acid pathways and gut-immune interactions.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies show that bile acids can regulate gut immunity, supporting the potential relevance of these findings in humans.
Where this research is happening
-
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic
Lebanon, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sundrud, Mark Scott — Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic
- Study coordinator: Sundrud, Mark Scott
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.