Ulcerative Colitis likely caused by Immune deficiency

At the Harvard School of Public Health in the US, Experiments being carried out on mice have identified an immune deficiency as the most likely cause of ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis is a severe inflammatory disease of the colon and is similar to Chrones Disease. For the differences between Chrones Disease and Ulcerative colitis, take a look at my post on Chrones Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are they different?

This research also demonstrated that once mice had Ulcerative colitis, it could then be passed from mother to their offspring and even between adult animals. They also linked ulcerative colitis in mice to a deficiency of a molecule in the immune system, which would normally prevent harmful bacteria in the large intestine from breaking the bowel's protective lining and thus allow the damaging inflammation. A shortage of a protein called T-bet which usually regulates the harmful bacteria. This then allows the bacterial attack on the intestinal wall. This then causes the inflammation we know as ulcerative colitis that's identified by the open sores throughout the colon.

It is hoped that better understanding of Ulcerative Colitis will also lead to a better understanding of Chrones Disease and one day a possible cure.

The details of this study is posted on-line in the journal Cell. www.cell.com

Cancer Drugs used to treat Chrones Disease

New cancer drugs could help regulate body's immune system and thus help fight Chrones disease according to some researchers in the US. Known as histone deacetylases inhibitors, or HDACs, the new cancer drugs might work extremely well in blocking the over active immune systems in people who have autoimmune diseases including chrones disease.

Wayne Hancock of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says that this treatment for Crohn's disease would improve the immune systems ability to actually regulate itself and in the one study carried out on mice, the drug helped reverse and even prevent inflammatory bowel disease as well as prevented the rejection of heart transplants in other mice.

Up till now, the drug has mostly been used in studying cancer, but that could change and more tests could soon be done for diseases like Chrones disease.

Chrones Disease and Perianal Fistulas

So what is a Fistula?

Fistulas are pretty common in people who have Chrones Disease and the basic definition is that they are abnormal connections or passageways between organs or vessels that should not normally connect to each other.

What Are Perianal Fistulas?

A perianal fistula is a abnormal connection between the anus and rectum with another organ or vessel such as the skin or the vagina.

According to research about 12 percent of people with chrones disease have Perianal fistulas, this is a huge amount as there are said to be at least half a million people with Crohn's disease in the US alone. Anal fistulas can lead to a big drop in the quality of life for anyone who has them as they can cause anal incontinence and infections.

How are Fistulas treated?

Surgery
Surgery is currently the main form of treatment, which is invasive as well as having a fairly poor success rate.

Anti TNF-alpha and drugs like Remicade (Infliximab) are also now used. The success rate of this treatment varies from patient to patient.

Cx401 (Still in development)
Cx401 is an non-embryonic (autologous) stem cell product developed by Cellerix from human adipose tissue. This autologous source offers clear advantages over other alternatives such as bone-marrow, including easier access to the stem cells and higher yield (100 to 1,000 times). Using a minimal amount of fat drawn from the patient, it is possible to obtain stem cells that have an extraordinary capacity to facilitate the healing process of fistulas.

How will the CX401 treatment work?
The treatment consists of the extraction, expansion and re-administration of the patient's own cells into the area that has fistulas. The natural healing of the fistula tract is achieved through the anti-inflammatory properties of Cx401.

So far there have been excellent clinical results obtained to date with the product. In a study to evaluate feasibility and safety of Cx401, it was confirmed that it has the potential to treat fistulas in Chrones Disease patients and showed a 75% response rate only 8 weeks after the initial treatment.

Chrones Disease and Pregnancy

Because chrones disease often affects women of child-bearing age, I thought I would take a look at what the complications are of having Chrones disease whilst pregnant:

Risk of an early Birth
There have been some recent studies carried out at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark by Dr. Bente Norgard and what they have shown that having an active chrones disease (a flare-up) during your pregnancy raises the risk of having a pre-term birth. This risk was shown to be three times higher in women with active chrones disease.

The researchers looked at the impact of chrones disease in 86 women with inactive Chrones disease during pregnancy (chrones in remission) and 71 women who had low to moderately high active chrones disease during their pregnancy.


What they also found is that women with the active chrones disease during their pregnancy, were shown the risks of giving birth to a child of low birth weight and congenital abnormalities were not increased, compared to the women with inactive chrones disease.

Overall the best advice is if you have crohn's disease and you are wanting to have a baby is to first get the disease under control and in remission. It is also important to work closely with your doctors who will be able to advise you and to point out the medications that you can and cannot take during the pregnancy.

SOURCE: American Journal of Gastroenterology, September 2007.

Flare Up's & Chrones Disease

Often when we hear people speak of Chrones disease, the term Flare up is also used, so what exactly is a flare up and what can be done to help?

What is a Flare-up in Chrones Disease?
Chrones disease is described as both a chronic and relapsing condition.

• Chronic: means that the Chrones is ongoing
• Relapsing: means that every so often the symptoms associated with Chrones disease will relapse, return and this is know as a "flare-up."
• Remission: This is the time between flare-ups when you don't show and Chrones disease symptoms.

The time spent in remission or between flare-ups varies form person to person, but often your very first flare up is the worst, so atleat things should get better once you get through the first flare-up.

Help with getting through a flare-up
If you experience the return of your Chrones symptoms, I would first of all immediately seek medical advice as they can make you very ill and should not be taken lightly.

If you can't get to see a doctor for any reason, the first thing you need to do stop what you are doing and get into a bed! This is realy important as your body needs rest to recover, get friends to help with the house chores, this is very important.

You will also need to start on a clear liquid diet, again you are going to have to be strict with yourself. ilke the rest of your body, your stomach needs the rest in order to recover from the chrones flare-up and go back into remission.

Clear liquid diet?
This means Non-carbonated drinks. Fizzy carbonated drinks can agrivate the stomach and intestines. During the recovery, it is vitally important to keep your body well hydrated at all times so drink plenty of water, a good idea is to sip water all through the day. On top of this you should at least once and preferably twice a day drink an energy drink. Something like Gatorade, Energade or Propel as these enery drinks will help your body replenish electrolytes.

You should also try and take Soup Broths, Jelly (Jell-O) and Popsicles (lollies). Don't eat pudding or ice cream.

Even now when you are in bed and on a clear liquid diet, it is important for you to get some sort of medical attention as you may need antibiotics and other medication.

Chrones disease can and is often very difficult to live with and manage and because you have an chronic, relapsing autoimmune disease, your life may and often will have to revolve around the disease. Whist in remission try and maintain a healthy body and stomach by eating correctly. It is also important to maintain a positive state of mind as this will help keep your chrones disease in remission.