[Perianal fistulas in CED: from mouse model to clinic].

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Perianal fistulas in CED: from mouse model to clinic Abstract. Fistulas are one of the most severe complications in Crohn's disease patients (CD). More than one third of Crohn's disease patients will suffer from mainly perianal fistulas during the course of their disease. Options for fistula treatment are scarce and their efficacy is often insufficient. In particular, complex fistulas often can only insufficiently be treated and complete and longstanding fistula closure occurs only in about one third of the patients. One of the big challenges in this area is that, on the one hand, fistula pathogenesis is only partially understood, and, on the other, no well-established in vivo model for Crohn's fistula exists that could be used for preclinical studies. From a histopathologic perspective, a fistula is a tube-like formation that is covered by epithelial-like cells. Our current research findings suggests that fistulas development in Crohn's disease patients due to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) which occurs during wound healing and invasive cell growth. Cytokines and growth factors, such as TNF, IL-13 and TGFβ, seem to play a prominent role during fistula development. Current treatment strategies for Crohn's fistula include medcial treatment as well as surgical approaches, often used in combination. Routinely used medications mainly include antibiotics, immunosuppressi

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.