New Potential Crohn's Disease Treatment

This is something that I brought up during a snowball discussion a while ago, but I never posted the actual article, so here it is.

Previously, it was thought that Crohn's Disease was cause by an exaggerated immune response to the natural bacterial flora of the colon. This explained the excessive and prolonged inflammation that is the main symptom of Crohn's. However, when testing an excised section of colon from someone with Crohn's, researchers found that the tissue actually had less immune response (measured by increased blood flow to the tissue) than normal healthy tissue. The root of this turned to be inadequate production of neutrophils and interleukin (a cytokine). They found that by administering sildenafil (Viagra) to the patient corrected the blood flow issues back to normal levels. The researchers have come up with a new Crohn's theory to explain these results. They think that Crohn's sufferers actually have a suppressed immune response in the colon which allows bacteria to penetrate the intestinal wall more easily. This constant aggrivation then triggers a secondary inflammatory response that builds up in the colon causing the persitant inflammation.

The full journal can be found here.

Defective acute inflammation in Crohn's disease: a clinical investigation