stem cell transplat theapy for Celiac?

[harma]

On a Dutch celiac board I just read a message of a young boy who had leukemia and was treated with stem cell therapy, he mentioned that this maybe also cured his celiac. I was curious and looked it up on Google. It really seems to be something that works. Only problem is, it is a risky treatment, of course worth it when you have leukemia, but for celiac mortal rage of 10 till 15% for the treatment is a bit high. But IMO a very interesting development.

link:
http://translate.google.nl/translate?hl ... htm&anno=2

article
Stem Cell Transplants for Celiac Disease? Not Yet.
Wednesday October 17, 2007
You may have seen posts on the internet this month referring to a paper in the journal Pediatrics about a girl with celiac disease who had a stem cell transplant for leukemia. The transplant also cured her celiac disease. I asked the lead author, Dr. Ronald Kline, what the implications of this are for the average patient with celiac disease.

Dr. Kline pointed out that the mortality for the type of transplant his patient had is approximately 10-15%. There's a less risky procedure in development called “reduced intensity stem cell transplantation,” designed to be used in non-malignant diseases, but even this has a 2-3% risk of death associated with it.

This past March, researchers in The Netherlands reported on seven patients with refractory celiac disease who had stem cell transplants. Six improved significantly, but one died. Someday, Dr. Kline said, if doctors can bring the mortality rate for reduced intensity stem cell transplantation down to zero, it might become a feasible treatment for celiac patients. In the meantime, he said, “It's an ethical question. How bad does the celiac disease have to be before you subject someone to the risk of death?” For now, he added, it's almost always safer to stick to the gluten-free diet.

[Stanz]

Interesting.

I have a friend who had a bone marrow transplant for non Hodgkins Lymphoma. They changed her blood type to the donors, a man from China. She is Filipino. She has his genetics now, is cancer free, and it has changed her personality as well. Kinda freaky.

Can't say I'd go through any kind of transplant for celiac.

[tex]

For someone with celiac disease, that would be kind of like burning down the barn, to get rid of the rats.

Tex

[harma]

like that expression burn down the barn to get rid of the rats

[kimtg68]

Texans are full of fun witty expressions. I miss that about Texas. I lived there for 13 years. That was a good one Tex.

[kmegan1]

I've always thought that at present the only way to truly cure IBDs (and most other autoimmune conditions) would be through a bone marrow transplant, effectively resetting the whole immune system.

I've heard a little about people with Crohn's and Lupus being cured with this procedure. It's nice to see that doctors are trying to make advancements in safety and effficacy so that this might be a viable option in the future, especially for the most severe cases. Thanks for this update.

Now if they could only figure out how to do this without all that nasty chemo.

[Bifcus16]

I read a newspaper story just yesterday that talked about a new method for doing stem cell transplants. They only replace some of the cells, and the pre transplant process to kill your immune system is reduced. Apparently it means they can use donors that are only a partial match, and that there are fewer anti rejection drugs needed. They think that some people may be able to stop taking anti rejection drugs completely after a while.

It was all very experimental, though, so don't hold your breath on it being available for us anytime soon.

Lyn