Biological Basis of Healing and Repair in Remission and Relapse

Inflammation and repair are interrelated processes mediated by common cytokines and growth factors. Mesenchymal-epithelial interactions and cross-talk are probably important in maintaining intestinal integrity and repair. Repair processes may involve exposure of previously inaccessible growth factor receptors or redistribution of receptorswithin surviving cells. A large number of growth factors have shown promise using in vitro and in vivo animal studies. However, the majorityhave failed to translate into benefit when tested in clinical trials. Despite the failure of many of the early clinical trials, our greater understanding of the fundamental processesunderlying the inflammatory and repair pathways is likely to be translated into novel therapies within the next few years.