**5. Disease-specific signatures of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis**

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involves chronic intestinal inflammation linked with critical ailment and has two subtypes- ulcerative colitis (UC), which directly affects the colon and Crohn's disease (CD) which can affect any part of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Macroscopic patterns of inflammation can at times distinguish between UC and CD but an insight of mucosal and peripheral immunological as well as microbial signatures differentiating these two subtypes becomes necessary for the diagnosis, prevention of recurrence or complications, and effective treatment [48].
