Flagging potential molecular predictors of response to biological therapies in ulcerative colitis
Thousands of people around the world suffer from chronic bowel diseases. One such common disease is ulcerative colitis (UC), which causes inflammation and sores in the digestive tract of affected individuals. Interestingly, the symptoms of UC are caused by many of the body's natural defense biomolecules gone rogue! A few examples include abnormal elevation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a and integrin levels. To treat UC, doctors prescribe several biologic therapies that act to bring down the elevated levels of these biomolecules.
While this seems like a straightforward strategy to alleviate UC, sometimes these biologic therapies don't work on a specific subset of patients, aptly called non-responders. Much to the dismay of clinicians and non-responders, these situations lead to unnecessary medication, wasteful expenses, and delay in starting alternatives. Studies place such non-responders at an alarming 20–30% for anti-TNF therapy, which can go up to an additional 15–30% over time, and 43% for anti-integrin therapy. Such dire situations not only call for better therapies, but also for better predictive measures to identify these non-responders, early on.