Female Speaker: Food becomes evil, because food causes the pain. Dr. Dean Edell: For a half-a-million Americans it's an unwelcome harbinger of adulthood. Crohn's disease often appears between the ages of 20 and 30, and its debilitating symptoms knock patients down in their prime. Current treatments don't work for everyone keeping doctors on a constant search to control Crohn's. We eat to nourish our bodies and our spirits, but for some people eating can be agony. Kristen Smith: Throwing up, weight loss, diarrhea and tired, stabbing pain. I want to be better. Dr. Dean Edell: Five terrible symptoms that add up to Crohn's disease. Dr. Ira Shafran: The disease that causes inflammation, ulceration of the intestinal tract. Dr. Alan Buchman: Crohn's disease is generally considered an autoimmune disease. Dr. Dean Edell: Food proteins and bacteria normally present in the intestines are recognized as foreign. Dr. Alan Buchman: The intestine then creates a battle against these foreign invaders. Dr. Dean Edell: The cause is a mystery. Dr. Ira Shafran: The new mystery is, one of our bacteria origin for this disease. Dr. Dean Edell: Plus a possible genetic factor. Dr. Ira Shafran: The existence of a bacteria or multiple bacteria and these patients who are genetically susceptible. Dr. Dean Edell: So antibiotic treatment is one approach used to control Crohn's. Cecelia Matchett: Instead of treating the symptoms, we have gone after the cause. Dr. Dean Edell: Cecelia Matchett treasures time with her granddaughter, fun she didn't get to have with her own children. Cecelia has had symptoms of Crohn's for two decades. She didn't find effective relief until she started taking the combination of two antibiotics, rifabutin and clarithromycin. Dr. Ira Shafran: But at least 40% of patients appear to have a significant bacterial component. Dr. Dean Edell: That leaves 60% of people with Crohn's searching for other means or relief. Dr. Brian Dieckgraefe: The mainstay of therapy is prednisone, a steroid. But inherent to it, it also has some downsides. Dr. Dean Edell: Side effects like weight gain, swelling and high blood pressure. So some patients turn to non-steroidal drugs. Dr. Brian Dieckgraefe: Remicade or Infliximab that is probably the gold standard for treating patients at this point. Dr. Dean Edell: In Crohn's disease, white blood cells produce too much of a chemical called Tumor Necrosis Factor or TNF. Remicade blocks the TNF that causes inflammation. Dr. Alan Buchman: We are searching for drugs that are not only better or work better than other drugs that are commercially available but are safer. Dr. Dean Edell: Doctors at Northwestern University are now analyzing the results of their research of a drug called CNI-1493 Drug which also blocks the message to make TNF. Kristen Smith was part of that study. Kristen Smith: They're kind of at the end of the road with normal treatment. Dr. Dean Edell: CNI-1493 has other advantages. Dr. Alan Buchman: It's also a small molecule which means that it's not a full protein. And it's unlikely that the body will develop a reaction against it. Dr. Dean Edell: Another new therapy is taking a reverse approach to older treatments. Artist Kelly Prokovsky suffered for 20 years. Kelly Prokovsky: It just --- it's all consuming. Dr. Dean Edell: Until she tried something entirely different. Dr. Brian Dieckgraefe: This is polar opposite to what the other drugs are doing. Dr. Dean Edell: Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis think Crohn's maybe cause by a defect in the immune system's first response mechanism. Dr. Brian Dieckgraefe: We ask the question, how can we figure out what the early steps are in developing the disease? Dr. Dean Edell: Instead of suppressing the immune system which is standard treatment for Crohn's, leukine boosts immunity, and is often used by patients undergoing chemotherapy. Dr. Brian Dieckgraefe: At first blush, this looks like we are pouring oil on a fi