4th March 2013 Stem cells offer hope for bowel disease Researchers have identified a special population of adult stem cells in bone marrow, with a natural ability to migrate to the intestine and produce intestinal cells. This suggests their potential to restore healthy tissue in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Up to 1 million Americans have IBD, which is characterised by frequent diarrhea and abdominal pain. IBD actually refers to two conditions – ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease – in which the intestines become red and swollen and develop ulcers, probably as a result of the body having an immune response to its own tissue. While there is currently no cure for IBD, there are drug therapies aimed at reducing inflammation and preventing the immune response. Because these therapies aren't always effective, scientists hope to use stem cells to develop an injectable cell therapy to treat IBD. The findings are reported online in the FASEB Journal by senior researcher Graca Almeida-Porada, M.D., Ph.D., professor of regenerative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist's Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and colleagues. The new research complements a 2012 report by Almeida-Porada's team that identified stem cells in cord blood that are involved in blood vessel formation and also have the ability to migrate to the intestine. "We've identified two populations of human cells that migrate to the intestine – one involved in blood vessel formation and the other that can replenish intestinal cells and modulates inflammation," said Almeida-Porada. "Our hope is that a mixture of these cells could be used as an injectable therapy to treat IBD."
The cells would theoretically induce tissue recovery by contributing to a pool of cells within the intestine. The lining of the intestine has one of the highest cellular turnover rates in the body, with all cell types being renewed weekly from this pool of cells, located in an area of the intestine known as the crypt.
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