Intensive Granulocyte and Monocyte Adsorptive Apheresis Plus Upadacitinib for Induction Treatment of Refractory Crohn’s Disease

Satoshi Tanida ^1 2, Naoto Imura ², Shun Sasoh ², Yoshimasa Kubota ², Tesshin Ban ², Tomoaki Ando ², Makoto Nakamura ², Takashi Joh ²

J Clin Med Res  2025 Apr;17(4):240-246. doi: 10.14740/jocmr6188. Epub 2025 Apr 5.

Case 1 involved a 34-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (CD) at 30 years old. After deciding to discontinue CD treatment, she was diagnosed with moderate flare-up of CD based on disease activity and endoscopic findings. Inadequate response was seen 7 days after starting oral prednisolone (PSL) at 30 mg/day, so combination therapy was started with intensive granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) plus upadacitinib (UPA) at 45 mg/day. Twelve weeks after starting this combination therapy, clinical remission and endoscopic and histological improvements of the inflamed mucosa were achieved with no adverse events. Case 2 involved a 26-year-old man who had been diagnosed with CD at 13 years old. He was diagnosed with severe flare-up of CD based on disease activity and endoscopic findings due to loss of response to double doses of infliximab (IFX). Combination therapy was started with intensive GMA plus UPA at 45 mg/day. Twelve weeks after starting this therapy, clinical remission and endoscopic and histological improvements of the inflamed mucosa were achieved with no adverse events. The combination of intensive GMA plus UPA appears to have provided an effective therapeutic option for refractory CD in a patient with a 4-year history of CD and refractoriness to systemic corticosteroids, and in another patient with a 13-year history of CD and loss of response to IFX.