Humira Being Used to Treat Crohn's in Kids

9/15/2008 LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- More than half a million Americans are living with Crohn's disease and more than 100,000 of them are kids. There's no cure, but researchers have found a way to help ease the painful symptoms.

Fifteen-year-old Taralyn Allen is finally in the driver's seat! It's been a long road getting here. For the past four years, Allen has suffered from Crohn's disease.
"People aren't aware that Crohn's disease can affect children," Howard Baron, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev., told Ivanhoe. "The parents will assume it's the flu and it goes on and on and on."

Crohn's is an inflammatory bowel disease where the intestinal lining becomes inflamed, causing severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and bleeding.

"I felt sick 24-7," Allen told Ivanhoe.

Allen's Crohn's was treated with steroids, which relieved some of the pain, but caused her to go from 70 pounds to 130 pounds in just a few months. Now, she's off the steroids. Allen is the first child in the world to take part in a study of a new drug marketed at Humira (adalimumab). It's already successfully used on adults.

"It is an antibody against a chemical that starts the inflammatory cascade in your body," Dr. Baron said.

It stops white blood cells from migrating to the lining of tissues, which causes the inflammation and the pain. But the drug comes with risks. It decreases the immune system and kids with Crohn's could be at a slightly higher risk for lymphoma. But for Allen, it's worked.
"Crohn's doesn't exist in me anymore," she says. "I feel completely normal."
Humira is still in studies. Children as young as five can enroll in the clinical trial. The youngest patient enrolled so far is 10-years-old.

Osiris Prochymal Stem Cell Transplant Update and XBP1 Info

So I have to think that I got more than a placebo. While on the high level I am more relaxed, happy and content than I though possible, I am also under a lot of day-to-day stress and pressure. As almost anyone with Crohn's Disease will tell you, there is a near concrete link between stress and Crohn's Disease flare ups. With my recent stress levels, I am pretty confident that pre-Osiris Prochymal I would be in a flare up. The good news is that I am not. The pain has subsided quite a bit and I am generally feeling really great as it relates to Crohn's. My improvements were enough to qualify me for phase II and as soon as I enter a flare-up, I am ready for 4 more treatments. I am more living with Crohn's now than I am suffering from it, and that is a big step in the right direction! Anyways, to you guys that are in Crones flare-ups or have been recently diagnosed....keep your heads up...and let me know if you have any questions. Be sure to use the search feature on this blog as we have covered alot of topics over the years.

-Scottie

PS - Intersing info here exploring the genetic link to Crohn's

A team of scientists have discovered that the XBP1 gene is a risk factor for developing Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

The investigators created a mouse model in which they deleted XBP1within the epithelium. They found that the mice spontaneously developed an intestinal inflammation that resembled IBD. The lack of the XBP1 gene disabled the normal communication between intestinal epithelial cells and gut bacteria, resulting in dysfunctional immune response and disease, the researchers explain.

The researchers then reportedly demonstrated that alterations in this gene in the intestinal-lining cells represent risk factors for development of Crohn's and colitis. The study was conducted by scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and institutes in Germany, The Netherlands, and Austria. Results appear in the September 5 issue of Cell.