Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The transplanted stem cells can migrate to injured intestinal tract to participate in injured tissue repair and functional reconstruction and can contribute to recovery of normal immunological function of intestinal tract.
OBJECTIVE: To review the research progress in transplantation of stem cells from different sources for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.
METHODS: A computer-based online retrieval of papers published between 1990-2008 were searched in PubMed and Wanfang database using the key words of “stem cells, tissue engineering, biliary complications, intestinal disease, human intestinal tract” in English and Chinese respectively. Twenty-four papers were included in the final analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease is mainly to control reactive inflammation and regulate immunologic derangement, involving anti-inflammatory drugs, hormone, immunosuppressant, biological treatment. But all these methods need long term treatment and showed many adverse events. Recently, studies on stem cell regeneration, nutrition and immunoloregulation bring new hope for treatment of intestinal disease. Transplantation of stem cells are hopeful to become an effective mean for treatment of intestinal disease due to their multi-directional differentiation, immunoloregulation and nutrition properties. Stem cells and tissue engineering show a wide application prospect in treatment of intestinal diseases.