COMMENTARY

Inflammatory bowel disease

Transplanting the genetic susceptibility to Crohn’s disease

M H Holtmann and M F Neurath

1st Department of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr M F Neurath, Department of Medicine, Johannes-Gutenberg-University, Langenbeckstrasse 1, 55 131 Mainz, Germany;
neurath@1-med.klinik.uni-mainz.de

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Susceptibility to Crohn’s disease may be transferred via haematopoietic stem cells, highlighting the pivotal role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease

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Keywords: Crohn’s disease; allogeneic stem cell transplantation; toxic megacolon

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Crohn’s disease (CD) is one of the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The prevalence of CD has increased in Western countries over the past decades and mainly young patients are affected, with a peak incidence between 15 and 35 years.¹ The aetiology of IBD is still unclear and should be considered as multifactorial according to recent studies.² Genetic factors seem to play a pathogenic role as well as environmental, infectious, and immunological factors. All of these different aetiological aspects are reconciled in a paradigm, in which CD could result from disturbances of the intestinal barrier and pathological activation of the intestinal immune response towards luminal bacterial antigens in individuals with genetic susceptibility.

Immunological key players for the pathogenesis of CD have been identified, including cellular components such as lamina propria macrophages and CD4+ T lymphocytes as well as cytokines such as tumour necrosis . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Jacobson, K., Mundra, H., Innis, S. M. (2005). Intestinal responsiveness to experimental colitis in young rats is altered by maternal diet. Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 289: G13-G20 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Folwaczny, C, Glas, J, Mussack, T, Torok, H P (2004). Adoptive transfer of genetic susceptibility to Crohn's disease. Gut 53: 473-473 [Full Text]