Expression data from whole blood in CD patients undergoing HSCT.. Homo sapiens

Treatment of severely refractory Crohn’s disease (CD) patients remains a clinical challenge. Recent studies show efficacy of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) in these severely compromised patients. HSCT is thought to eliminate auto-reactive cells; however the mechanisms are incompletely understood. We followed a group of patients (n=18) receiving autologous HSCT, with 50% of them achieving endoscopic drug-free remission. To elucidate the mechanism driving efficacy we compared the immunological changes induced by HSCT in responders and non-responders. Overall design: Blood from CD patients undergoing HSCT was collected into PAXgene tubes and frozen at -20ºC (PAXgene Blood RNA Tube / PreAnalytiX (Qiagen, Spain)). Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease (SES-CD) index was used at baseline and during follow-up to assess endoscopic activity. Magnetic Resonance Indeex of Activity (MaRIA) was used at baseline and during forllow up in those patients in whom lesions could not be assessed by ileocolonoscopy; mucosal healing was defined as a segmental index < 7 in all ileocolonic segments. Response was defined as mucosal healing at 52 weeks after-HSCT. Blood RNA isolation was performed with the PAXgene Blood RNA Kit using an automated protocol of QIAcube (Qiagen, Spain). Purity and integrity of the total RNA is assessed through 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent, Germany) and then quantified by NanoDrop spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies, USA). A total of 42 samples belonging to 14 patients were analized.