Ulcerative Colitis

In the long term, patients with How it works: The mechanism that leads to IBD is not well understood.

But it has long been suspected that IBD damages the bowel wall as a result of an aberrant and overactive immune response—one in which activated immune cells release toxic materials that hurt nearby cells.

The same kind of "autoimmune" damage is most likely the underlying cause of other diseases in which cells of the immune system destroy normal tissue cells—multiple sclerosis, for instance, and Type 1 diabetes.

The cells responsible for this kind of damage are called Th1 cells.The diseases we typically think of as "allergic" diseases, by contrast—asthma, for instance, or food allergies, or eczema—are activated by materials released by a related immune cell, the Th2 cell.

Fascinating to immunologists is our state of Th1-Th2 balance.

If the Th1 cells are intentionally stimulated, then the Th2 cells become less active, and vice versa—activated Th2 cells tone down Th1 cells, which is exactly what helps relieve IBD.The icky part: An audacious and creative scientist at the University of Iowa, Dr.

Joel Weinstock, asked this question: What if the bowel of a patient with IBD was stimulated to increase the Th2 immune response and reduce the activity of the Th1 cells damaging the bowel wall?

Hmmm—how to do it?

Int...

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