Regulation of intestinal regeneration: New insights

Evidence for a role of epithelial mesenchymal transition during pathogenesis of fistulae in Crohnʼs disease

“…An even stronger reduction of migratory ability was found in fibroblasts derived from CD fistula tissue (unpublished data) indicating a disturbance in wound healing. Epithelial cell migration is an another hallmark of the attempt of the intestinal mucosa to rapidly close defects of the intestinal barrier [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] . It is induced by a number of different growth factors 20 .…”

Intestinal regeneration by a novel surgical procedure

“…Many studies of intestinal regeneration have focused on biological reactions or intestinal adaptations after intestinal resection, including cytokine induction, growth hormone, regulatory factors, nutrient effects and changes in the crypt-villus axis 6,7 . The intestinal morphogenesis process is not clear, owing to the lack of a feasible model for observing the regeneration process.…”

Smad3 knock-out mice as a useful model to study intestinal fibrogenesis

“…Experimental evidence from several research groups suggests that disruption of the TGF-β/Smad signalling pathway plays a central role in sustaining both chronic tissue inflammation and fibrosis [4][5][6] . TGF-β is a multifunctional polypeptide hormone influencing different functions in a variety of cells including regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, immunoregulation, regulation of the inflammatory response, restitution and healing [5,7,8] . At cellular level, TGF-β affects virtually all stages of the chronic inflammatory and fibrotic disease processes.…”