Cell therapies for IBD: what works?

The inflammatory response in patients with inflammatory bowel disease is a complex self-amplifying process with multiple cellular and molecular pathways controlling activation and shut-off of the process. Available therapeutic interventions with drugs that have a very selective action, such as anti-tumor necrosis factor antibodies, or broader effects such as corticosteroids still leave a significant proportion of patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis insufficiently treated. Cellular therapies are emerging as promising new approaches to treat inflammatory bowel diseases and in particular Crohn's disease. Experimental and clinical data are the origin of the increasing utilization of cell therapies for severe immune-mediated diseases including inflammatory bowel disease. The types of cell therapies for these diseases can be divided into two different areas: hematopoietic stem cell therapies, and selected/conditioned immune cell therapy, the latter including mesenchymal stem cells and T-regulatory cells-based therapies.