Our view: Stem cells to create immune systems for people with Crohn's Disease

Stem cell transplants are becoming a very important area of research offering hope to a selective group of seriously ill patients with Crohn’s Disease who have not responded to any conventional treatment.

Effective short-term results have been experienced by some patients, but these are early days, so this work is vital to help establish how widespread the benefit can be. 

This is a dramatic treatment that is not without risk, a previous trial was stopped after the tragic death of a young man, but important modifications to the design trial now mean that less potent chemotherapy drugs are used to mitigate risk.

Longer term follow-up of patients whose immune systems have been reset by this therapy will help to establish whether this promising treatment will bring sustained long-term benefit in patients who still have an underlying genetic tendency to Crohn’s Disease.