Topic: This project has explored in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo, the three main factors, genetic, microbiological and immunological, that determine the onset of intestinal inflammatory diseases (IBD) by molecular and cellular biology techniques, with the aim to elucidate the mechanisms of the disease and to identify new therapeutic targets. The activation of trans-membrane and intracellular bacterial receptors of innate immunity and the interaction between them and the intestinal microbial, in particular with highly infectious and invasive bacterial strains (AIEC), that have been identified in patients with these pathologies, have been analysed. Finally, given the recent identification of a group of proteins that trigger innate immunity in the presence of tissue damage, the gene expression and mechanism of action of a prototype of these proteins, HMGB1, have been studied in IBD, by identifying molecules with which it forms complexes and its post-translational changes occurring during the inflammatory process.