REPOGRAMING OF THE INTESTINAL IMMUNE CELL COMPARTMENT DEFINES THE RESPONSE TO AUTOLOGOUS STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION IN CROHNS DISEASE

Abstract

For the treatment of refractory Crohn’s disease (CD) autologous stem cell transplant (auto-SCT) is unparalleled in its ability to induce clinical and endoscopic remission.(1, 2) Auto-SCT is unique as a cellular therapy aimed to reset immune pathophysiology to a pre-disease state using hematopoietic stem cells. As such, the study of how the immune system responds to auto-SCT will provide unique insight into CD pathogenesis and treatment. To date, no studies in any cohort have defined the mucosal and peripheral immune response to auto-SCT. Here we report initial studies of high dimensional immune phenotyping of patients with CD during auto-SCT.