Ex-vivo Confocal Imaging and Proteomic Profiling to Determine Treatment Response in Children With IBD

"Patients will undergo Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and/or Ileocolonoscopy (IC) EGD with CLE as per standard of care. Each participant will have 3-4 mucosal biopsies taken from the terminal ileum, rectosigmoid and cecum, ideally from the most affected areas of accessible segment.~Ex vivo staining of biopsied tissue will be expanded to include FITC-labeled antibodies to cytokines IL12 and IL12/IL23 and to cytokine receptors IL12R and IL23R and possibly other cytokines, receptors and adhesion molecules. All biopsies tested for membrane bound antibodies will be done using CLE technology with artificial intelligence (AI). The cellular landscape will be characterized by surveying surface markers using bar-coded antibodies and performing gene expression profiling on every cell within inflamed tissue of patients with IBD.~We will develop algorithm using AI to predict responders versus non-responders and to further subclassify IBD patients using phenotype data."