Pulling the plug- NAD energy depletion as a novel treatment strategy in IBD

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative Colitis (UC) constitute the two major entities of human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Despite notable advances, IBD treatment remains challenging in some patients. We have demonstrated high PBEF/NAMPT/Visfatin serum levels and colonic mRNA expression in IBD patients before. Inflammation requires high amounts of energy usually provided by energy-rich substrates and enzymatic co-factors. PBEF/NAMPT/Visfatin exerts an important role in maintaining the cellular energy supply during chronic inflammation by catalyzing the rate-limiting step of NAD from the NAD salvag…