BACKGROUND:  A variety of human diseases, such as Crohn's disease, require the extensive removal of the intestine. Patients suffering from short bowel syndrome have inadequate lengths of functional small intestine to maintain normal digestion and absorption. The current therapy to manage short bowel syndrome consists of providing parenteral nutrition, optimizing the health of the remnant intestine, and enhancing bowel adaptation. Aside from the high cost of this care, estimated at $200,000 per patient per year, such treatment is associated with significant complications such as catheter sepsis and liver failure. Transplantation is another option, but is associated with organ rejection and complications from immunosuppression. Tissue engineering to regenerate the autologous intestine offers the most promising life-saving solution and allows patients to be weaned from parenteral nutrition and to eat normally. The intestine, however, is a complex organ that integrates the functions of many types of cells and tissues. Previous studies have regenerated the intestinal mucosa, the innermost lining of the intestine, but efforts to regenerate the intestinal wall, which provides peristaltic function necessary for normal digestion, have not been successful.

INNOVATION:  The invention, using specifically designed scaffolds, signaling molecules, and progenitor cells, is able to regenerate both the smooth muscle and the enteric nervous system necessary to regenerate a functional intestinal wall.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:  The treatment of a variety of intestinal disorders including short bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, Hirschsprung's disease, and Crohn's disease.

ADVANTAGES:  Current treatments such as parenteral nutrition or intestinal transplantation are associated with risks and complications such as liver failure or organ rejection. The invention would regenerate the intestinal wall, including the smooth muscle and enteric nervous system, restoring peristaltic function without the downsides of current treatments.

DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE:  A proof-of-concept construct has been successfully implanted into an animal omentum.

Reference: UCLA Case No. 2008-027