Ulcerative Colitis (UC)NCT07824726
Ex Vivo Comparison Of Combination Versus Single Therapeutic Pathway Inhibition In Human Intestinal Mucosa From Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
A study testing Collection of 8 additional intestinal mucosal biopsies during standard-of-care endoscopy for subsequent ex vivo testing and Collection of an additional 2 mL blood sample in people with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), run by PhoenixLAB srls at 1 site in Italy.
Trial summary
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether simultaneously targeting three inflammatory pathways (TL1A, IL-23, and α4β7) produces a stronger anti-inflammatory effect in intestinal tissue from patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) compared with targeting individual pathways. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Ulcerative Colitis (UC), IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), Crohn Disease (CD)
- What is being tested?
- Collection of 8 additional intestinal mucosal biopsies during standard-of-care endoscopy for subsequent ex vivo testing and Collection of an additional 2 mL blood sample
- Type of treatment
- Surgery or procedure
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 30 participants
- Where
- 1 siteItaly
- Study dates
- 1 Oct 2026to 1 Oct 2026
- Phase
- Interventional
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Patients of at least 18 years of age
- Able to comply with the study procedures and to sign an informed consent form
- Established diagnosis of UC or CD, with indication to start any biological or small molecule agents as per standard of care:
- UC patients with a clinical indication to start biologics or small molecules as per standard of care, with a Total Mayo Score of 6-12 (moderate-severe disease) and an endoscopic subscore ≥ 2; CD patients with a clinical indication to start biologics or small molecules as per standard of care, with a clinical CDAI score of 220-600 (moderate-severe disease) and endoscopic evidence of active mucosal inflammation/ulceration upon baseline examination;
- Patients with IBS or individuals undergoing colonoscopy for CRC prevention or routine surveillance, with no prior diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease and no endoscopic evidence of intestinal mucosal inflammation.
Who cannot join
- Absolute contraindications to colonoscopy procedures
- UC or CD patients in endoscopic remission
- IBS or patients undergoing CRC prevention surveillance with inflamed mucosa during the endoscopy
- Patients of at least 18 years of age unable to comply with the study procedures and to sign an informed consent form
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Italy1 site
IRCCS San Raffaele
Milan, MI, 20131
Federica Ungaro, PhD, +39 02-26437864, ungaro.federica@hsr.it
Francesco Fiorio, MSc, +39 02-26437159, fiorio.francesco@hsr.it
About this study
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether simultaneously targeting three inflammatory pathways (TL1A, IL-23, and α4β7) produces a stronger anti-inflammatory effect in intestinal tissue from patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) compared with targeting individual pathways. The study aims to investigate whether this combined approach may help overcome limitations associated with single-pathway inhibition.
This is a single-center, interventional ex vivo study conducted at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele. The study includes 30 participants divided into three cohorts: 10 patients with Ulcerative Colitis, 10 patients with Crohn's Disease, and 10 non-IBD control participants.
Read more
Participant involvement is limited to a single day and is integrated into a clinically indicated, routinely scheduled colonoscopy and routine phlebotomy. During the scheduled colonoscopy, 8 additional mucosal biopsies are collected for research purposes, together with an additional 2 mL blood sample. No additional endoscopic procedure or separate study visit is required.
No investigational drug or treatment is administered directly to participants. The collected intestinal biopsies are instead treated ex vivo in the laboratory with ATTO-1091, individual pathway inhibitors, or control conditions for 16 hours.
Biological and molecular responses are evaluated using laboratory techniques including ELISA and RNA sequencing to assess inflammatory markers and gene expression. Laboratory personnel performing molecular and transcriptomic analyses are blinded to participants' clinical profiles until final data analysis.
Read the detailed description
The study is built on the hypothesis that the simultaneous blockade of TL1A, IL-23, and α4β7 pathways will exert a synergistic anti-inflammatory effect on the intestinal mucosa of IBD patients compared to single-agent inhibition, thereby potentially overcoming resistance to standard biological therapies.
To test this, a monocentric, national, interventional ex vivo clinical study will be conducted at the IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele using organotypic tissue cultures.
The parallel-group design is based on three distinct clinical cohorts consisting of participants with Ulcerative Colitis, participants with Crohn's Disease, and non-IBD control subjects.
To minimize bias and ensure scientific integrity, laboratory operators performing the molecular and transcriptomic analyses will be blinded to the clinical and response data of the source tissue until final statistical analysis.
Participants will undergo a clinically indicated, routinely scheduled standard-of-care colonoscopy. During the procedure, 8 additional mucosal biopsies will be collected for research purposes according to a standardized sampling protocol, together with an additional 2 mL blood sample collected during routine phlebotomy. No investigational product or treatment will be administered directly to study participants. Instead, the active experimental phase will be conducted entirely ex vivo in the laboratory, where the collected intestinal tissue samples will be exposed to ATTO-1091, individual pathway inhibitors, or control conditions for a standardized culture period of 16 hours.
Participant involvement will be completed within a single day and fully integrated into routinely scheduled clinical care, with no additional study-specific clinical examinations or post-treatment follow-up visits required. There are no sub-studies included in this protocol.
Biological data will be generated via high-throughput laboratory assays, specifically organotypic tissue cultures, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for cytokine evaluation, and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to map gene expression. These molecular methods are selected because they provide comprehensive measurements of cellular inflammation and pathway inhibition and allow comparison of the biological effects of combined pathway inhibition with single-pathway inhibition and control conditions.
Finally, any new future research or secondary use of the collected data and biological samples not explicitly described in this protocol will be submitted to the Ethics Committee for formal approval before initiation.
- Being tested
- Collection of 8 additional intestinal mucosal biopsies during standard-of-care endoscopy for subsequent ex vivo testing, Collection of an additional 2 mL blood sample
- Keywords
- IBD, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, Combination Therapy, Ex Vivo Human Organ Culture
- Medical subject headings
- Colitis, Ulcerative, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Crohn Disease
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Collection of 8 additional intestinal mucosal biopsies during standard-of-care endoscopy for subsequent ex vivo testingProcedure or surgery
Eight additional mucosal biopsies will be collected during a clinically indicated, scheduled standard-of-care colonoscopy. Biopsies will be obtained according to a standardized sampling protocol, with the anatomical site of each biopsy documented. The additional biopsies are collected for research purposes and subsequently processed for ex vivo laboratory analyses. No investigational product is administered to study participants.
Collection of an additional 2 mL blood sampleProcedure or surgery
An additional 2 mL blood sample will be collected during routine phlebotomy performed in conjunction with the scheduled study visit. The additional blood collection is performed for research purposes and does not require a separate study visit.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Control group - NO IBD | Other | Non-IBD control cohort consisting of individuals without inflammatory bowel disease undergoing scheduled standard-of-care colonoscopy. During the procedure, 8 additional mucosal biopsies and 2 mL of blood are collected. Collected mucosal tissue is cultured ex vivo for 16 hours with the tri-specific inhibitor ATTO-1091, individual monotherapies (tulisokibart, risankizumab, vedolizumab), or vehicle control to evaluate baseline non-inflamed mucosal responses. Receives: Procedure: Collection of 8 additional intestinal mucosal biopsies during standard-of-care endoscopy for subsequent ex vivo testing; Procedure: Collection of an additional 2 mL blood sample |
| Crohn's Disease (CD) | Other | Crohn's Disease (CD) cohort consisting of individuals with confirmed CD undergoing scheduled standard-of-care colonoscopy. During the procedure, 8 additional mucosal biopsies and 2 mL of blood are collected. Collected mucosal tissue is cultured ex vivo for 16 hours with the tri-specific inhibitor ATTO-1091, individual monotherapies (tulisokibart, risankizumab, vedolizumab), or vehicle control to evaluate mucosal responses in CD tissue. Receives: Procedure: Collection of 8 additional intestinal mucosal biopsies during standard-of-care endoscopy for subsequent ex vivo testing; Procedure: Collection of an additional 2 mL blood sample |
| Ulcerative Colitis (UC) | Other | Ulcerative Colitis (UC) cohort consisting of individuals with confirmed UC undergoing scheduled standard-of-care colonoscopy. During the procedure, 8 additional mucosal biopsies and 2 mL of blood are collected. Collected mucosal tissue is cultured ex vivo for 16 hours with the tri-specific inhibitor ATTO-1091, individual monotherapies (tulisokibart, risankizumab, vedolizumab), or vehicle control to evaluate mucosal responses in UC tissue. Receives: Procedure: Collection of 8 additional intestinal mucosal biopsies during standard-of-care endoscopy for subsequent ex vivo testing; Procedure: Collection of an additional 2 mL blood sample |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines in intestinal biopsy culture supernatants following ex vivo treatment with ATTO-1091
Pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations will be quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in culture supernatants collected after 16 hours of ex vivo incubation of intestinal biopsies with ATTO-1091, individual pathway inhibitors, or the corresponding control condition. Cytokine concentrations following ATTO-1091 exposure will be compared with those measured in control cultures and in cultures exposed to individual pathway inhibitors to quantify the anti-inflammatory effect of simultaneous TL1A, IL-23, and α4β7 inhibition. Each selected cytokine will be analyzed separately and reported as its concentration in the culture supernatant using the concentration unit specified for the corresponding ELISA assay. Comparisons between experimental conditions will be performed using Student's t-test or analysis of variance (ANOVA), as appropriate, with correction for multiple comparisons.
Measured: 16 hours after ex vivo exposure
Change in gene expression following ex vivo treatment with ATTO-1091, expressed as log2 fold change
Gene expression profiles will be assessed by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in intestinal biopsies following 16 hours of ex vivo incubation with ATTO-1091 or the corresponding comparator conditions. Sequencing will be performed using paired-end reads (2 × 150 bp), targeting approximately 30 million read pairs per sample. After quality control, trimming, alignment to the human reference genome, and generation of gene-level counts, differential gene expression will be analyzed using DESeq2. Gene expression profiles following ATTO-1091 exposure will be compared with the corresponding control and single-pathway inhibitor conditions to identify genes significantly modulated by simultaneous TL1A, IL-23, and α4β7 inhibition. Changes in gene expression between experimental conditions will be expressed as log2 fold change (log2FC), with statistical significance assessed using adjusted P values.
Measured: After 16 hours of ex vivo incubation
Enrichment of disease-associated inflammatory biological pathways following ex vivo treatment with ATTO-1091
Functional and pathway enrichment analyses will be performed using RNA-seq-derived differential gene expression data from intestinal mucosal tissue following 16 hours of ex vivo exposure to ATTO-1091, individual pathway inhibitors, or control conditions. Pathway enrichment will be assessed from differential gene expression data to identify disease-associated inflammatory biological processes and pathways modulated by simultaneous TL1A, IL-23, and α4β7 inhibition. Pathway enrichment following ATTO-1091 exposure will be compared with that observed under control conditions and following individual pathway inhibition. Biological processes and pathways with an adjusted P value ≤0.05 will be considered significantly enriched. The enrichment measure is an analytical output of pathway enrichment analysis and is not a clinical scale with predefined minimum or maximum values.
Measured: After 16 hours of ex vivo incubation
Secondary outcomes (4)
Correlation between ex vivo gene expression response to ATTO-1091 and disease duration in participants with IBD
Gene expression response to ATTO-1091 will be measured by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in intestinal mucosal biopsies following 16 hours of ex vivo exposure and analyzed using DESeq2. For each analyzed gene, gene expression response will be expressed as log2 fold change (log2FC) following ATTO-1091 exposure compared with the corresponding control condition and with each individual pathway inhibitor (tulisokibart, risankizumab, and vedolizumab).
Disease duration will be obtained from the participant's clinical records and measured in years from initial IBD diagnosis to study enrollment.
Correlation analysis will assess the relationship between gene expression response (measurement tool: RNA-seq with DESeq2; unit of measure: log2FC) and disease duration (measurement source: clinical records; unit of measure: years).
Measured: Through study completion, up to 12 months
Correlation between ex vivo gene expression response to ATTO-1091 and Total Mayo Score in participants with Ulcerative Colitis
Gene expression response to ATTO-1091 will be measured by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in intestinal mucosal biopsies following 16 hours of ex vivo exposure and analyzed using DESeq2. For each analyzed gene, gene expression response will be expressed as log2 fold change (log2FC) following ATTO-1091 exposure compared with the corresponding control condition and with each individual pathway inhibitor (tulisokibart, risankizumab, and vedolizumab).
Ulcerative Colitis disease activity will be assessed using the Total Mayo Score, expressed in points. The Total Mayo Score ranges from 0 to 12 points, with higher scores indicating greater disease activity. Participants enrolled in this study are required to have a Total Mayo Score of 6 to 12 points.
Correlation analysis will assess the relationship between gene expression response (measurement tool: RNA-seq with DESeq2; unit of measure: log2FC) and Ulcerative Colitis disease activity (measurement tool: Total Mayo Score; unit of measure: points).
Measured: Through study completion, up to 12 months
Correlation between ex vivo gene expression response to ATTO-1091 and Crohn's Disease Activity Index in participants with Crohn's Disease
Gene expression response to ATTO-1091 will be measured by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in intestinal mucosal biopsies following 16 hours of ex vivo exposure and analyzed using DESeq2. For each analyzed gene, gene expression response will be expressed as log2 fold change (log2FC) following ATTO-1091 exposure compared with the corresponding control condition and with each individual pathway inhibitor (tulisokibart, risankizumab, and vedolizumab).
CD activity will be assessed using the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and expressed in points. The CDAI ranges from 0 to approximately 600 points, with higher scores indicating greater disease activity. Participants enrolled in this study are required to have a CDAI score between 220 and 600 points.
Correlation analysis will assess the relationship between gene expression response (measurement tool: RNA-seq with DESeq2; unit of measure: log2FC) and Crohn's Disease activity (measurement tool: CDAI; unit of measure: points).
Measured: Through study completion, up to 12 months
Correlation between ex vivo gene expression response to ATTO-1091 and participant age
Gene expression response to ATTO-1091 will be measured by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in intestinal mucosal biopsies following 16 hours of ex vivo exposure and analyzed using DESeq2. For each analyzed gene, gene expression response will be expressed as log2 fold change (log2FC) following ATTO-1091 exposure compared with the corresponding control condition and with each individual pathway inhibitor (tulisokibart, risankizumab, and vedolizumab).
Participant age at study enrollment will be obtained from the participant's clinical records and measured in years.
Correlation analysis will assess the relationship between gene expression response (measurement tool: RNA-seq with DESeq2; unit of measure: log2FC) and participant age (measurement source: clinical records; unit of measure: years).
Measured: Through study completion, up to 12 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted17 Sep 2026
- Study start1 Oct 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion1 Oct 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion1 Oct 2026 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (3)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Ulcerative Colitis (UC)Studies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- This is an interventional ex vivo study using organotypic mucosal tissue cultures. Participants are enrolled into three parallel diagnostic cohorts based on their pre-existing clinical diagnosis: Ulcerative Colitis (UC, n=10), Crohn's Disease (CD, n=10), and non-IBD controls (n=10). During a scheduled standard-of-care colonoscopy, 8 additional mucosal biopsies are collected from each participant, together with an additional 2 mL blood sample during routine phlebotomy. Collected mucosal tissue is cultured ex vivo for 16 hours and exposed under standardized laboratory conditions to the experimental compound ATTO-1091, which simultaneously inhibits the TL1A, IL-23, and α4β7 pathways, individual pathway inhibitors (tulisokibart, risankizumab, and vedolizumab), or control conditions. No investigational product is administered directly to participants; all pharmacological exposures occur exclusively ex vivo on the collected tissue.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 30 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- PhoenixLAB srls
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- IRCCS San Raffaele
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Silvio Danese, MD, PhD, Principal investigator, IRCCS San Raffaele
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07824726
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- COMBI-IBD
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 4 Sep 2026
- Last updated
- 17 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Publications
Al-Lamki RS, Bradley JR, Pober JS. Human Organ Culture: Updating the Approach to Bridge the Gap from In Vitro to In Vivo in Inflammation, Cancer, and Stem Cell Biology. Front Med (Lausanne). 2017 Sep 11;4:148. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2017.00148. eCollection 2017.
PubMed 28955710Feuerstein JD, Ho EY, Shmidt E, Singh H, Falck-Ytter Y, Sultan S, Terdiman JP; American Gastroenterological Association Institute Clinical Guidelines Committee. AGA Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Medical Management of Moderate to Severe Luminal and Perianal Fistulizing Crohn's Disease. Gastroenterology. 2021 Jun;160(7):2496-2508. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2021.04.022. No abstract available.
PubMed 34051983Feuerstein JD, Isaacs KL, Schneider Y, Siddique SM, Falck-Ytter Y, Singh S; AGA Institute Clinical Guidelines Committee. AGA Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of Moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis. Gastroenterology. 2020 Apr;158(5):1450-1461. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.01.006. Epub 2020 Jan 13. No abstract available.
PubMed 31945371