Treatment to save Crohn’s disease sufferers like Strictly star Anastacia from surgery found

A  TREATMENT that could save thousands of Crohn’s disease sufferers from crippling symptoms and repeated surgery has been discovered.

The incurable condition is caused by inflammation blocking  intestines.

Crohn's disease sufferers include pop star Anastacia, currently in Strictly Come Dancing, and Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert.

But now scientists believe drugs already on the shelves could prevent the inflammation that leads to blockages.

They found a way of targeting the defective genes causing the fibrosis in tests on mice.

It is this inflammatory response that researchers believe causes the fibrosis.

Prof Kelly McNagny, of the University of British Columbia, Canada, said:

"Fibrosis results from inflammatory cells stimulating cells to produce this matrix, or scarring.

"We found what we think are the inflammatory cells that drive fibrosis.

"The gene that was defective in those cells is a hormone receptor."

He added: "We found a way of targeting those cells so that we can dampen them down and prevent fibrosis."

“There are drugs available.”

Author Bernard Lo, a PhD candidate at UBC, said: "Fibrosis is a response to chronic inflammation, but it is also a process that occurs during normal aging.

"If you can reverse this, you've essentially found a way to promote regeneration rather than degeneration

"If you get liver cirrhosis, your liver stops functioning because you replace that normal health liver with scar tissue.

"It is the same thing in cardiac muscle.

"If you have a heart attack, you replace normal heart muscle with scar."

It could also tackle other fibrosis illnesses.