A clinical trial to examine the role of stem cells to reboot the immune system and treat Crohn’s disease is presently under the evaluation stage by researchers from the University of Nottingham.
The involved researchers are examining if stem cells taken out from a patient’s own body can be used to provide effective remissions in the long run, an evaluation that could save tens of thousands of lives in the future.
From News-Medical.Net:
The Europe-wide trial, which is currently recruiting patients, is the first of its kind in the world to treat Crohn’s. The disease is a chronic ongoing condition that most commonly affects the small intestine and colon. It causes inflammation, deep ulcers and scarring to the wall of the intestine, with main symptoms including pain in the abdomen, diarrhoea, fatigue and weight loss.
It affects around 60,000 people in the UK, with 3-6,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. Currently it has no cure. Normal treatment includes steroids, which cannot be taken long-term, and immune suppressant drugs.
But if the Nottingham-led stem cell therapy is successful, Professor Chris Hawkey and colleagues Dr Paul Fortun and Dr Tony Shonde believe that in the future it could just possibly mean a cure for up to 50 per cent of sufferers. The study is featured on a new TV series starting on November 1 on the Community Channel.
This stem cell study into Crohn’s Disease at the University of Nottingham was funded by the Broad Medical Research Program of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in California.
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