Differences in tissue populations following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Crohn’s disease patients

Treatment of severely refractory Crohn’s disease (CD) patients remains a clinical challenge. Recent studies show the efficacy of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) in these severely compromised patients. HSCT is thought to eliminate auto-reactive cells; however, no specific studies of immune reconstitution in CD patients are available. We studied a group of CD patients (n=18) receiving autologous HSCT and non-IBD patients (n=19) to elucidate the mechanism of interaction with the microorganisms.