A new meta-analysis study suggests that stem cell therapy may be an effective treatment for Crohn’s Disease. However, the study also found that toxicity was a significant barrier to using systemic stem cell treatments.
The study was recently published in the journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy and is titled “Systematic review with meta-analysis: the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy for Crohn’s disease.” It was created by group of researchers from the Sun Yat-sen University in China.
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel condition that affects the digestive tract. Some of the symptoms of Crohn’s disease include bloating, diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, abdominal cramping, and weight loss.
To find out if a stem cell therapy was the ideal way to treat Crohn’s disease, researchers looked at electronic databases of previous research. They looked for any research project that used a stem cell therapy to treat Crohn’s disease, then analysed the findings.
The raw data obtained by the researchers was pooled to obtain general estimates and sub-groups were created to obtain more specific metrics. In total, the researchers looked at 21 studies, which included 514 patients with Crohn’s disease. Their analysis showed that 56% of patients receiving a stem cell therapy saw an improvement in their condition.
Some cases did not improve at all after stem cell therapy. However, that may relate to the type of stem cell treatment used. Researchers believe that transplants of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from a donor might be able to reset the immune system at a genetic level, potentially fixing the issues caused by Crohn’s disease.
Source: Stem Cell Therapy Potentially Effective in Crohn’s Disease, but Concerns Remain, Review Finds
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