A Collection of Patient-Derived Intestinal Organoid Lines Reveals Epithelial Phenotypes Associated with Genetic Drivers of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

BACKGROUND: Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a chronic condition characterized by persistent intestinal inflammation in children. It often presents with distinct clinical phenotypes and is more frequently linked to rare monogenic variants affecting epithelial barrier function or mucosal immunity. Although over 100 genes are associated with monogenic IBD, their roles in the intestinal epithelium remain poorly defined. This study aimed to improve our understanding of epithelial dysfunction in early-onset IBD through molecular and cellular analyses to uncover patient-specific phenotypes and potential therapeutic targets.

METHODS: We generated intestinal epithelial organoids (IEOs) from 94 pediatric IBD patients, including those with monogenic variants (BTK, TTC7A, IL10RA, LRBA, STXBP2, TRNT1, SKIV2L), along with 46 non-IBD controls. RNA sequencing was performed on 38 patient and 20 control lines, under both baseline conditions and after immunological stimulation, yielding a valuable dataset for studying epithelial responses in IBD.

RESULTS: IEOs effectively initiated inflammation upon bacterial lysate stimulation, regardless of disease status, origin, or genotype. Inflammatory stimulation triggered upregulation of IBD-linked genes SERPINA1 and LIFR in IBD organoids, suggesting their role in epithelial innate immunity. However, network analysis showed no consistent transcriptional signatures across all IBD cases. Instead, specific genotypes (TTC7A, STXBP2, LRBA) revealed responses, with STXBP2 and LRBA showing shared upregulation of IL-1 and SLC30-mediated zinc trafficking pathways.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the potential of IEOs as a valuable model for studying IBD and offer key insights that could guide the development of targeted therapies for both monogenic and non-monogenic forms of IBD.