http://venturebeat.com/2008/03/06/life-science-briefing-thursday-march-6-2008/
"The biotech is developing a patient-specific cell therapy for the gastrointestinal autoimmune condition Crohn’s disease. Its technique involves isolating specific regulatory immune cells known as Tr1 cells, which help tamp down inflammation, from a patient’s blood. After selecting only Tr1 cells that respond to a particular biochemical stimulus (technically, a particular antigen) and reinfusing them into the patient, doctors would then activate the cells locally — here, presumably, in the gut — by administering the trigger antigen and thus “downregulating” the immune response that’s causing problems."
More info found on the company's website:
http://www.txcell.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=17&Itemid=46
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German Company Develops Groundbreaking Alternative To Stem Cell Therapyhttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/99645.php
"The therapeutic possibilities lie in replacing defective or missing cells (regenerative medicine) or producing cells that regulate the immune system. A significant advancement in the treatment of autoimmune diseases or for transplant medicine...The "reprogrammed" cells can be used both as diagnostic agents or for therapeutic purposes. Inflammatory bowel diseases (Morbus Crohn, Colitis ulcerosa), ..."
More info found on the company's website:
http://www.blasticon.eu/content.php?nid=164
"They are used in the context of autoimmune diseases. These cells regulate the patient’s immune system in such a way as to prevent cells targeted against the patient’s own tissue (e.g. intestines...) from having a destructive effect.
This causal approach to treatment has already proven successful in the treatment of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes and inflammatory intestinal diseases in animals. Preclinical studies are already finalized in most indications, with the next step being human testing."