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RecruitingNCT03901235MSCUpdated Dec 12, 2024

MSC Intratissular Injection in Crohn Disease Patients

A Phase 1/2 interventional study of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Efficacy and Safety, sponsored by University of Liege. Recruiting at 1 site in Belgium. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-12-12.

Sponsored by University of Liege · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2025, 9 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Registered 1 year 1 month after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2018, registered Mar 2019).
  • Started Jan 2018; still recruiting 8 years 8 months later.
Phase
Phase 1/2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The main objective is to assess the efficacy of local injection of MSC on the healing of refractory intestinal and perianal lesions in crohn disease. The second co-primary endpoint is safety.

02

Conditions studied

  • Efficacy and Safety

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03

In context

Crohn Disease

1,880 studies on the registry are indexed under Crohn Disease; 462 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 60 is close to the median of 66 across 1,188 interventional studies indexed under Crohn Disease.

Browse Crohn Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Liege is the lead sponsor of 242 studies on the registry; 46 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients ≥ 18 years of age
  • Signing the informed consent
  • Diagnosis of Crohn Disease for more than 6 months
  • Presence of at least one Crohn Disease lesion refractory to conventional therapies (azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine or methotrexate) and to biologic treatments (anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor therapies, vedolizumab, or ustekinumab).
  • Refractory lesion defined by (1) a stricture with a length of 2 to 5cm of the colon or the ileum accessible by ileocolonoscopy (i.e. a lesion identified during a colonoscopy with a lumen narrowing non passable by the colonoscope), (2) unhealed deep ulcer of the colon or the ileum accessible to ileocolonoscopy, or (3) actively draining perianal fistula(s).
  • Twenty patients with stricture(s), 20 patients with unhealed deep ulcer(s), and 20 patients with an actively draining perianal fistula(s) will be included

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Indication for immediate luminal surgery
  • Intestinal obstruction
  • Intra-abdominal fistulas or abscess
  • Intestinal/colonic stricture or deep unhealed ulcer not accessible to ileocolonoscopy
  • Undrained peri-anal abscess
  • Pregnant women or planning pregnancy within one year
  • Positive stool culture/toxin for clostridium difficile pathogen or other pathogens
  • Renal failure (anuria, serious fluid overload, Glomerular Filtration Rate \< 30 ml/min, dialysis) or hepatic failure (Fulminant liver failure, cirrhosis of the liver with evidence of portal hypertension, alcoholic hepatitis, esophageal varices, a history of bleeding esophageal varices, hepatic encephalopathy, uncorrectable hepatic synthetic dysfunction evinced by prolongation of the prothrombin time, ascites related to portal hypertension, bacterial or fungal liver abscess, biliary obstruction, chronic viral hepatitis with total serum bilirubin >3 mg/dL)
  • documented human immunodeficiency virus infection; active hepatitis B, C, or tuberculosis
  • an opportunistic infection within 6 months before screening or a serious infection in the previous 3 months
  • malignancy within the past 5 years; or a history of lymphoproliferative disease
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1 / Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

    Biological: Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Interventions

  • BiologicalMesenchymal Stromal Cells

    Suspension of mesenchymal stromal cells for intratissular injection

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion of patients with deep ulcer healing

    Complete deep ulcer healing is defined by the disappearance of the ulcer; partial healing is defined by a decrease in the depth or the diameter of the ulcer.

    Time frame: Week 12

  2. Proportion of patients with stricture healing

    Complete stricture healing is defined by the ability to pass the ileocolonoscope through the stricture; partial healing is defined by the increase in the diameter of the stricture.

    Time frame: Week 12

  3. Proportion of patients with complex perianal fistula healing

    Complete complex perianal fistula healing is defined by the complete closure of the external fistula opening, no drainage upon gentle pressure, no abscess. And by looking at the size of the fistulous track, presence of collection, and gadolinium enhancement by MRI

    Time frame: Week 12

  4. Safety assessed by the incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events during the study period

    Assessment of the incidence of adverse and serious adverse events over the 48 weeks study period. Toxicity grade of adverse events is determined using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.0). Relationship to the therapeutic procedure will systematically be assessed.

    Time frame: from week 0 to week 48

Secondary outcomes

  1. Evolution of clinical disease activity index

    Assess disease activity in Crohn's disease over 7 days using the Crohn's disease activity index

    Time frame: week 0, 12 and 48

  2. Evolution of Short health scale (quality of life)

    min : 0 - max : 10 (worse)

    Time frame: week 0, 12 and 48

  3. Evolution of the Lemann Index (measuring cumulated intestinal damage in Crohn's disease)

    which incorporates clinical, surgical, endoscopic, and imaging findings from all segments of the digestive tract into one composite score

    Time frame: week 0, 12 and 48

  4. Evolution of the " Group of Therapeutic Study of Inflammatory Disorders of the Digestive Tube" obstructive score for Crohn Disease strictures

    Grade : from 0 to higher value 6

    Time frame: weeks 0, 12 and 48

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 12, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03901235
Lead sponsor
University of Liege
Collaborators
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liege
Responsible party
Edouard Louis (Prof, University of Liege) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 3, 2019
Start date
Jan 15, 2018
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Dec 12, 2024

Study contacts

Edouard Louis, Prof
Contact
edouard.louis@uliege.be
043667256 ext. 0032
Chantal Lechanteur
Contact
c.lechanteur@chuliege.be
043668390 ext. 0032
Edouard Louis, Prof
principal investigator · Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liege

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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