Effect of infliximab combination therapy on inflammatory biomarkers and intestinal mucosal healing in patients with extensive Crohn’s disease

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of infliximab （IFX） combination therapy on inflammatory biomarkers and intestinal mucosal healing in patients with extensive Crohn’s disease（CD）. Methods According to the evaluation criteria of endoscopic grading score and mucosal healing of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, inflammatory biomarkers and mucosal healing data of 160 patients with extensive CD were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were assigned into the IFX combination therapy group （n = 98） and conventional drug therapy group （n = 62）. Results The C-reactive protein （CRP） level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate （ESR） and interleukin 6 （IL-6） level began to decline, but the serum TNF-α level increased during the second cycle of IFX treatment. In the IFX combination therapy group, the healing rate of colonic mucosa in patients treated for 12 times had statistical significance compared with that of those treated for less than 12 times （P < 0.05）. In the IFX combination therapy group, the endoscopic total effective rate was 80.3% （57/71）, significantly higher than 64.5% （40/62） in the conventional drug therapy group （P = 0.041）. Conclusions IFX combination regimen can significantly increase the serum TNF-α level, whereas it exerts no effect upon intestinal mucosal healing. IFX combination therapy can more effectively promote colonic mucosal healing than conventional therapy.

Keywords

• |inflammatory bowel disease|crohn&#x02019;s disease|infliximab|mucosal healing|inflammatory factor