Tag Archives: treatment

Crohn’s Disease, Type-2 Diabetes; is there a link?

Posted on by
Reply

I found an interesting online article from the Wall Street Journal here.  The article goes into detail about a team of researchers in Boston that are analyzing the genetic makeup and relationships among various diseases and proteins in humans.  Diseases with symptoms appearing to be unrelated may in fact be intimately tied together in their genetic structure.  An example would be that while Crohn’s Disease and Type-2 Diabetes do not appear to have much in common, at the cellular level they in fact do share similarities in the genetic code of people who suffer from the diseases.

The research centers around mapping clusters of diseases, at the center of clusters may be diseases that share many common structures in genes and the proteins they produce that interact with cells causing diseases.  Colon Cancer shares at least one of 34 genes with 50 other diseases.  Colon Cancer would be at the center of a cluster surrounded by the 50 diseases it is related to.  Scientists may end up discovering that treatments or cures that occur in one disease may work on others.

There are also implications for patients with one sort of disease being at risk for developing other closely related diseases.  For example, a patient with Ischemic Heart disease is 60% more likely to develop Type-2 Diabetes than the average healthy person.   Also, what conclusions may be drawn about patients and their relatives.  My mother suffers from Type-2 diabetes while I suffer from Crohn’s Disease.  Was I more likely than not to have Crohn’s Disease given the fact my mother developed Type-2 Diabetes?

Crohn’s Disease drug maker Prometheus cannot patent a law of nature

Posted on by
Reply

Found interesting coverage here and here about a Prometheus patent that was thrown out based on the ruling that the laws of nature cannot be patented.  The Supreme Court threw out medical patent claims by Prometheus Laboratories that sought to tailor drugs to Crohn’s Disease patients based on a blood test.  The blood test measures the rate that medicine breaks down upon metabolizing in individual patients.  This ruling is a pretty big deal in the circles of personalized medicine and directly relates to Crohn’s Disease.  Prometheus sued the Mayo Clinic for patent infringement after the Mayo Clinic developed their own version of the blood test.  My take on the decision is that the lower cost of health care for patients based on the existence of multiple tests is a good thing.

Steroids linked to Vitamin D deficiency

Posted on by
Reply

Here is a link to a story that covers a study on Vitamin D deficiency in people who take oral steroids.  The study shows that people who take oral steroids are twice as likely as non-steroidal users to suffer a severe Vitamin D deficiency.

The study does not claim that oral steroids cause a Vitamin D deficiency; only that there is a correlation.  Still, there is a possibility that steroids cause Vitamin D deficiency.  Further study is required to determine if Vitamin D deficiency is actually caused by oral steroids or if it is merely correlation.

It is theorized in the study that a possible way oral steroids could cause Vitamin D deficiency is if the steroids boost enzyme levels that curb the vitamin’s activity in the body.  This study is important to suffers of Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis because steroids are frequently prescribed by doctors to treat inflammatory bowel disease.  The study basically says that if a doctor prescribes steroids to a patient, then Vitamin D levels should be monitored in the patient.

TiGenix finances facility to create treatment to heal fistulas in IBD patients

Posted on by
Reply

Here is a link to the article about TiGenix and it funding a facility for subsidiary Cellerix SA.  Cellerix is creating a treatment for the local treatment of fistulas, a common ailment in Crohn’s Disease patients.

The treatment is derived from adult stem cells, specifically from human fat tissue (this will definitely drive up Tyler Durden’s prices for soap), and is injected directly into the lesion.

From the article:

The Bottom Line: Cellerix’ lead product Cx601 is based on expanded adipose tissue-derived  mesenchymal stem cell (eASC) platform.  Cellerix claims ASCS can  inhibit immune cell activation, proliferation and function through the  selective induction of regulatory T cells. The firm is thus developing  an immunotherapy platform to enable the large-scale production of  regulatory T cells in the presence of ASCs. Lead program, Cx911, is in  preclinical development. The cells suspension is in development for  local administration to treat complex anal fistulas in patients with Crohn disease. Madrid-based Cellerix claims the treatment acts by controlling  inflammation to promote natural closure of the lesion. A P3study is  projected to start in 2012. This financing will cover a  significant part of the development costs of Cx601 and allows financing  the P3 independently to retain much more of its value in potential  partnering agreements. TiGenix and Cellerix announced their share-based  merger in February, in a deal that valued the Spanish firm at some €58M.

I think this is great, face it, fistulas suck and are difficult to treat and get rid of.  A lot of people suffering from Crohn’s Disease will be very thankful for this.

Potential therapeutic effect found for IBD

Posted on by
Reply

Researchers at the Albany Medical College have found that transferring healthy T regulatory cells into young mice predisposed to Inflammatory Bowel Disease did not develop the disease.  The researchers created mice predisposed to IBD by purposely removing a key transcription factor (read protein) from T cells that prevents the T cells from continuously creating pro-inflammatory substances that damage healthy tissue.  Once such a mice has been created it typically develops a severe form of IBD.  After introducing healthy T cells into the mice, they did not go on to develop IBD.

This suggests a possible new treatment for those that suffer from Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.  The researchers are not yet ready to test the procedure on humans but that is the ultimate goal.  A quote from the article:

As a result of these findings, we feel a possible treatment for IBD should focus on transferring T regulatory cells and using their ability to suppress the immune response.  By doing so, we may be able to treat the underlying problems of IBD and not just their symptoms.

A link to this article can be found here.