Comparing adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells with prednisolone for the treatment of feline inflammatory bowel disease

Objectives The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of feline mesenchymal stem cells (fMSC) with prednisolone as a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in cats. Methods Cats with chronic enteropathy that failed a 2-week diet trial and were not found to have significant concurrent disease were eligible for the study. If endoscopic biopsies confirmed a histopathologic diagnosis of IBD, the cat was randomly assigned to either the fMSC or prednisolone groups. Owners were blinded to the grouping. Stem cell treatment consisted of two intravenous injections of 2 x 10(6) cells/kg of freshly cultured allogeneic stem cells separated by 2 weeks. Prednisolone treatment was 1-2 mg/kg PO q24h, tapered according to clinical response. Owners were asked to make no changes (eg, diet and other medications) for the first 2 months, at which time they either continued to the 6-month recheck with no changes, or 'failed' treatment and owners were unblinded and changes made as necessary. Results Six prednisolone and six fMSC treatment cats completed the study. All six prednisolone group cats were spayed females with a mean age of 8.3 years (range 2-14), a mean body weight of 3.6 kg (range 2.5-4.8) and a mean pretreatment Feline Chronic Enteropathy Activity Index (FCEAI) score of 3.6 (range 2-6). The six stem cell cats included three spayed females and three castrated males, and had a mean age of 8.0 years (range 4.5-13), a mean body weight of 4.9 kg (range 4.0-5.9) and a mean pretreatment FCEAI score of 3.7 (range 2-5). One cat in each group failed at the 2-month recheck. At the 6-month recheck, the mean FCEAI score for the prednisolone group was 3.7 (range 0.5-9) and 0.75 (range 0-1.5) for the fMSC group. Conclusions and relevance These results suggest that this specific fMSC protocol appears to be as effective in the treatment of feline IBD as a standard course of prednisolone therapy.