Use Intestinal Stem Cells to Treat Colorectal Cancer Through Regenerative Medicine

Cancer is a major healthcare issue for many countries around the world, including the United States.  Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.  Worldwide, more than one million cases of colorectal cancer are clinically diagnosed annually and more than half of those who are diagnosed die every year.  The current treatments, such as intestinal transplantation and chemotherapy, are limited by a lack of donors, high degree of implant failure, massive side effects, and the need for heavy immunosupression.

My research is the first to target topical delivery of intestinal stem cells to the damaged site of the intestine to treat colorectal cancer.  Significantly, intestinal stem cells have the fascinating ability to efficiently generate all the cell types of intestinal epithelial and heal the damaged or ulceration area of the intestine.  Furthermore, with this innovative approach, intestinal stem cells could be acquired from the patient themselves and easily expanded in vitro to avoid heavy immunosupression.  For this groundbreaking method, I created a thin layer of epithelial patch that could immediately adhere to the intestine surface, especially to the damaged surface when delivered in vivo.  The materials used in this patch can support the initial survival and proliferation of the delivered cells and greatly increase the delivery efficiency.  Through delivery of intestinal stem cells, we can achieve rapid regeneration of the epithelial barrier and enable the remission and cure of the disease. Thus we expect that this therapeutic strategy can be rapidly translated to clinical use as an effective and convenient therapeutic method for colorectal cancer.