Cure Expectancy??

[Mehita]

For those who've been keeping up with the research and studies, realistically, how far off do you think a cure is?

 

[Mr chicken]

No one is projected any sort of cure in any of the research
New drugs but no cure anytime soon
Any talk of that would have hit the news big time

Why???

 

[Mehita]

No one is projected any sort of cure in any of the research
New drugs but no cure anytime soon
Any talk of that would have hit the news big time

Why???

DS was asking the tough questions the other day.

 

[Maya142]

How about this Mehita?? From Medscape. Not a cure but some hope!

'Bio-Artificial' Intestine Offers New Hope for Serious Bowel Diseases
Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2015
Luca Cicalese, MD
Disclosures June 26, 2015

What if people with seriously diseased or damaged intestines could use their own stem cells to grow new "bio-artificial" intestinal tissue to replace parts of their bowels?

It certainly would be a life-changing and life-saving discovery for countless children who are born with congenital conditions, such as short bowel syndrome, as well as adults suffering from injuries, tumors, or painful intestinal ailments such as Crohn disease.

After nearly 10 years of work, my colleagues and I believe that we are on the verge of a major breakthrough. We have demonstrated for the first time the ability to create fully functioning "bio-artificial" tissue grown from intestinal stem cells in the bowels of laboratory rats. Our team from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston presented our work to the scientific community at this year's Digestive Disease Week, the world's largest gathering of physicians and researchers in gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy, and gastrointestinal surgery.

Other attempted cures for diseased or damaged intestines have been problematic. Intravenous feeding, although initially effective, is associated with severe complications and poor quality of life. Transplantation is potentially curative but remains challenging because of a shortage of donors, high infection rates, and potent immunosuppression due to the danger of organ rejection.

Initially, we were able to create a piece of bio-artificial intestine by detaching a segment of intestine from a pig and removing all of its cells, creating a decellularized biologic scaffold. This matrix of collagen fibers was created for implanting intestinal cells from rats—and it grew into a piece of intestinal tissue. And, because our tissue scaffold came from something that already existed in nature, it was not subject to rejection by the body.

However, this success was only superficial. We created new tissue, but it was artificial and nonfunctional.

In our current experiment, we demonstrated that the newly formed intestinal segments that were transplanted into 20 rats have become fully functioning. After 12 weeks of growth, we tested the new intestinal tissue with urine and blood samples and showed that it was absorbing nutrients as effectively as normal intestinal tissue.

We are planning up to 3 years of work on larger animals, after which we hope to be ready for human clinical trials.

If we can eventually use this technique in humans, it could eliminate the need for intravenous feeding, surgery, or transplants. And, if we can successfully create portions of new human intestine, the potential to cure diseases by regenerating new organ tissue could open up countless new fields of cure.

 

[HelenMelb]

At a consultation two years ago with Professor Thomas Borody, Sydney GI and well recognised as a ground breaking and innovative researcher, he said he believed we would see a cure "in his lifetime".

Dr Borody formulated the Redhill bio antibiotic therapy currently in Phase 3 trials, and developed fecal transplants for c.diff.

I hope and pray, for all our kids sakes, that he is right, and that they will be able to enjoy the majority of their adult years free of Crohn's.

 

[Axelfl3333]

I,m confident something will fly in out of left field there's lots of research going on into crohns and many other chronic conditions so there's always the chance of a light bulb moment!i,m hoping for a big breakthrough in Alzheimer's treatment it's the blight of the 21st century and has affected my family badly.its sunny today I,m feeling optimistic

 

[MamaHenn]

I asked our GI this question at one of our visits and she seemed confident that in my son's lifetime (12) they will have this disease all "figured out". I sure hope so. Tough questions to answer for Tweens/teens.

 

[Jonny84]

To me the best research is being done by Qu Biologics in Canada with their site specific immunotherapy. Very promising and different from other treatments in that it aims to reboot the body's innate immune response and correct the underlying deficiency which causes IBD. They are conducting a phase 2 trail with 60 crohn's patients at the moment and last I heard it was 85% recruited. Results expected early 2016 I believe.

Thing is though even if they come up with better treatments it will be a long time before its confirmed as a cure - given the nature of this condition (periods of remission and flare ups) how do you know someone is cured? surely you only know that for certain if they live out the rest of their lives without it coming back. I think there is a lot of hope and that treatments will continue to improve as time goes on, fingers crossed!!!

 

[24601]

No need for me to ask why this is a question. I get it. I ask this question all the time and my family do too - and no longer in a desperate way but in a hopeful way. There is promising research being done so I think there is reason to be hopeful and if not a cure I think there will soon be more treatment options and as we know finding the right treatment for you can change your life and make that desperate need for a cure less - though I think it's entirely understandable to desire it all the same.

As to cures, I think that if MAP is implicated for a subset of Crohnies then Prof Hermon-Taylor's vaccine will be the first cure for Crohn's (if the funding for the trials can be secured). But there may need to be different cures for different Crohn's diseases.

It's not easy waiting and the timeline for scientific progress is inevitably uncertain but I am hopeful, and I think that your son can be too, that there will be a cure in his lifetime.

In the meantime of course we travel hopefully and make the best use of the best available current treatments so that we are in the best position to benefit from the cures when they come. And if we've happened to lose some bowel along the way then the research in Maya's article is an incredibly exciting way to keep us healthy and living normally while we wait for that right treatment or cure. I for one am so excited about research in that area, which I think has progressed phenomenally quickly

 

[wild_one353]

check out fecal transplants, its the closest to a cure there is. 6 patients with UC no symptoms no meds for 13 years. 1 patient w crohn's 12 years no symptoms no meds. doctors believe there is a good chance they are cured. More studies in progress.

Yes these people were at Borody's clinic in Australia, he is a real truly educated researcher and doctor.
Companies are working on a FMT pill to treat crohn's, maybe 3-6 years away, it's coming fast though. Another company just raised 2 billion in an IPO for a probiotic to for c diff. its moving fast but not fast enough for me!!

 

[Axelfl3333]

It,ll come out of the blue,look at the recent huge progress in treating skin cancer,a combination of existing drugs was so successful it brought the trial to an end early and is now a treatment.its still sunny in Coatbridge I,m optimistic,i,ll get over it.

 

[Mehita]

Thanks, everyone! Not sure what triggered the questions seeing as he's had the disease almost eight years now. Maybe all the college letters coming in are getting him to think about his future? I know he's concerned about how infusions will work when he's away at school. My guess is he'll be done with Remi by then anyway.

I shared your links and thoughts with him. Waiting for round two now.

 

[crohnsinct]

College...the way our GI works it is, you just tell him where you are going to school and he finds a local GI and infusion center to handle their care while they are at school. I asked, what if school is really remote and he said, "then you have an excuse for a car on campus as a freshman!" Worked for O!