Okamoto Ryuichi, Watanabe Mamoru
Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Digestion. 2015;92(2):73-7. doi: 10.1159/000438663. Epub 2015 Jul 30.
The intestinal epithelium exerts multiple, indispensable functions to maintain the homeostasis of our body. However, this layer is frequently damaged by various gastrointestinal diseases; repair of such a damaged intestinal epithelium becomes difficult and the stem cell function gets lost or severely disrupted. Recent advances in the stem cell biology of the gastrointestinal tract have provided major breakthroughs, such as in vitro culture of intestinal stem cells (ISCs), and have also thrown light on the transplantation of those cells to repair the damaged intestinal mucosa. Based on such newly developed techniques, we are now coming close to apply them to treat various gastrointestinal diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Accordingly, ISC-based therapy is currently under development for treating IBD patients, which may potentially provide benefits to those patients by the achievement of mucosal healing and the subsequent improvement of their prognosis. In this review, we would like to highlight studies that have provided information on the great advances made thus far in the research of ISCs. In addition, we would like to express some of our perspectives on the clinical use of ex-vivo-cultured ISCs in the treatment of IBD.
肠道上皮发挥着多种不可或缺的功能，以维持我们身体的内环境稳定。然而，这一层经常受到各种胃肠道疾病的损害；修复受损的肠道上皮变得困难，干细胞功能丧失或严重紊乱。胃肠道干细胞生物学的最新进展取得了重大突破，如肠道干细胞（ISC）的体外培养，也为这些细胞移植以修复受损肠黏膜提供了思路。基于这些新开发的技术，我们现在正接近将它们应用于治疗包括炎症性肠病（IBD）在内的各种胃肠道疾病。因此，基于ISC的疗法目前正在开发用于治疗IBD患者，这可能通过实现黏膜愈合和随后改善其预后为这些患者带来益处。在这篇综述中，我们将重点介绍那些提供了有关ISC研究迄今所取得巨大进展信息的研究。此外，我们将表达我们对体外培养的ISC在IBD治疗中的临床应用的一些观点。
