Masi L, Ciuffini C, Petito V, Pisani LF, Lopetuso LR, Graziani C, Pugliese D, Laterza L, Puca P, Di Vincenzo F, Pizzoferrato M, Napolitano D, Turchini L, Amatucci V, Schiavoni E, Privitera G, Minordi LM, Mentella MC, Papa A, Armuzzi A, Gasbarrini A and Scaldaferri F Front. Gastroenterol. 1:1022530. doi: 10.3389/fgstr.2022.1022530

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic disabling conditions with a complex and multifactorial etiology, which is still not completely understood. In the last 20 years, anti-TNF-α antagonists have revolutionized the treatment of IBD, but many patients still do not respond or experience adverse events. Therefore, new biological therapies and small molecules, targeting several different pathways of gut inflammation, have been developed of which some have already been introduced in clinical practice while many others are currently investigated. Moreover, therapeutic procedures such as leukocytapheresis, fecal microbiota transplant and stem cell transplantation are currently being investigated for treating IBD. Lastly, complementary and alternative medicine has become a field of interest for gastroenterologist to reduce symptom burden in IBD patients. In this comprehensive and updated review, a novel classification of current and developing drugs is provided.

Frontiers | Innovative, complementary and alternative therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases: A broad 2020s update (frontiersin.org)

Nobuhiro Ueno Seisuke Saito Masahiro Sato Yuya Sugiyama doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3037827/v1

Background: A remission induction therapy of granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) with Adacolumn was given to patients with active Crohn’s disease (CD). However, establishing an appropriate treatment strategy for GMA in patients with active CD remains unclear. Methods: This multicenter retrospective cohort study encompassed patients with CD who underwent GMA in seven independent institutions in Japan from January 2010 to March 2023. All clinical data were obtained from medical records. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy, safety, and subsequent clinical progression after GMA in patients with CD. Result: This study enrolled 173 patients with active inflammatory bowel disease who underwent GMA with Adacolumn, and among them, 16 patients with CD with mild to moderate disease activity were analyzed. Concomitant medication, including steroids, immunomodulators, and biologics, was used in 93.7% of all cases. The overall remission and response rates were 25.0% and 68.8%, respectively. The response rate between groups concerning the frequency and total GMA sessions revealed no significant difference. Six (37.5%) patients experienced adverse events (AEs). All AEs were related to the trouble in blood access and recovered soon without any sequelae. Regarding the factors associated with response to GMA, the responder group had a significantly longer disease duration (336 vs 44 months, p = 0.036) and exhibited a relatively lower rate of intestinal strictures and a median score of a simple endoscopic score for CD (SES-CD) (9.1 vs 60 %, p = 0.063 and 10 vs 21.5, p = 0.091, respectively). Further, all patients responding to GMA received biologics that were continuously used before and after GMA. Furthermore, 36.4% of patients remained on the same biologics 52 weeks after GMA. Notably, all patients who continued the same biologics had previously experienced a loss of response to anti-tumor necrosis factor-α agent. Conclusion: Therefore, GMA may exhibit heightened effectiveness in patients with moderately active CD without severe endoscopic activity. Moreover, it represents a potential novel therapeutic option for refractory CD, particularly with insufficient response to biologics.

(PDF) The clinical efficacy and safety of granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis in patients with Crohn’s disease: A multicenter retrospective cohort study (researchgate.net)

Nobuhiro Ueno ¹, Yuya Sugiyama ¹, Yu Kobayashi ¹, Yuki Murakami ¹, Takuya Iwama ², Takahiro Sasaki ¹, Takehito Kunogi ¹, Aki Sakatani ¹, Keitaro Takahashi ¹, Kazuyuki Tanaka ³, Shinya Serikawa ⁴, Katsuyoshi Ando ¹, Shin Kashima ¹, Momotaro Muto ⁵, Yuhei Inaba ², Kentaro Moriichi ¹, Hiroki Tanabe ¹, Toshikatsu Okumura ¹, Mikihiro Fujiya

J Clin Apher.  2023 Jan 13. doi: 10.1002/jca.22040.

Background: Granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) with Adacolumn has been used as a remission induction therapy for patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC). Herein, we investigated the influence of concomitant medications in the remission induction of GMA in patients with active UC. Methods: This multicenter retrospective cohort study included patients with UC underwent GMA in five independent institutions in Japan from January 2011 to July 2021. Factors including concomitant medications associated with clinical remission (CR) were analyzed statistically. Result: A total of 133 patients were included. Seventy-four patients achieved a CR after GMA. The multivariable analysis revealed that concomitant medication with 5-aminosalicylic acid, Mayo endoscopic subscore (MES), and concomitant medication with immunosuppressors (IMs) remained as predictors of CR after GMA. In the subgroup analysis in patients with MES of 2, concomitant medication with IMs was demonstrated as a significant negative factor of CR after GMA (P = .042, OR 0.354). Seventy-four patients who achieved CR after GMA were followed up for 52 weeks. In the multivariable analysis, the maintenance therapy with IMs was demonstrated as a significant positive factor of sustained CR up to 52 weeks (P = .038, OR 2.214). Furthermore, the rate of sustained CR in patients with biologics and IMs was significantly higher than that in patients with biologics only (P = .002). Conclusion: GMA was more effective for patients with active UC that relapsed under treatment without IMs. Furthermore, the addition of IMs should be considered in patients on maintenance therapy with biologics after GMA.

Concomitant pharmacologic medications influence the clinical outcomes of granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis in patients with ulcerative colitis: A multicenter retrospective cohort study – PubMed (nih.gov)

Iizuka M, Etou T, Sagara S.  World J Gastroenterol 2022; 28(34): 4959-4972 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i34.4959

For the optimal management of refractory ulcerative colitis (UC), secondary loss of response (LOR) and primary non-response to biologics is a critical issue. This article aimed to summarize the current literature on the use of cytapheresis (CAP) in patients with UC showing a poor response or LOR to biologics and discuss its advantages and limitations. Further, we summarized the efficacy of CAP in patients with UC showing insufficient response to thiopurines or immunomodulators (IM). Eight studies evaluated the efficacy of CAP in patients with UC with inadequate responses to thiopurines or IM. There were no significant differences in the rate of remission and steroid-free remission between patients exposed or not exposed to thiopurines or IM. Three studies evaluated the efficacy of CAP in patients with UC showing an insufficient response to biologic therapies. Mean remission rates of biologics exposed or unexposed patients were 29.4 % and 44.2%, respectively. Fourteen studies evaluated the efficacy of CAP in combination with biologics in patients with inflammatory bowel disease showing a poor response or LOR to biologics. The rates of remission/response and steroid-free remission in patients with UC ranged 32%-69% (mean: 48.0%, median: 42.9%) and 9%-75% (mean: 40.7%, median: 38%), respectively. CAP had the same effectiveness for remission induction with or without prior failure on thiopurines or IM but showed little benefit in patients with UC refractory to biologics. Although heterogeneity existed in the efficacy of the combination therapy with CAP and biologics, these combination therapies induced clinical remission/response and steroid-free remission in more than 40% of patients with UC refractory to biologics on average. Given the excellent safety profile of CAP, this combination therapy can be an alternative therapeutic strategy for UC refractory to biologics. Extensive prospective studies are needed to understand the efficacy of combination therapy with CAP and biologics.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36160647/

https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v28/i34/4959.htm

Francesca Ferretti ^*, Rosanna Cannatelli, Maria Camilla Monico, Giovanni Maconi and Sandro Ardizzone J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11(9), 2302; 

The main goals of Ulcerative Colitis (UC) treatment are to both induce and maintain the clinical and endoscopic remission of disease, reduce the incidence of complications such as dysplasia and colorectal carcinoma and improve quality of life. Although a curative medical treatment for UC has not yet been found, new therapeutic strategies addressing specific pathogenetic mechanisms of disease are emerging. Notwithstanding these novel therapies, non-biological conventional drugs remain a mainstay of treatment. The aim of this review is to summarize current therapeutic strategies used as treatment for ulcerative colitis and to briefly focus on emerging therapeutic strategies, including novel biologic therapies and small molecules. To date, multiple therapeutic approaches can be adopted in UC and the range of available compounds is constantly increasing. In this era, the realization of well-designed comparative clinical trials, as well as the definition of specific therapeutic models, would be strongly suggested in order to achieve personalized management for UC patients.

An Update on Current Pharmacotherapeutic Options for the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis – PubMed (nih.gov)

JCM | Free Full-Text | An Update on Current Pharmacotherapeutic Options for the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis (mdpi.com)

UEG WEEK VIRTUAL 2021

GMA induces specific immunoregulatory changes in leukocyte’s subpopulations. We confirm the depletion of the
monocytes with proinflammatory phenotype after GMA. Treg and B effector cells shift to a more immunotolerant phenotype. The emergence of subpopulations with the atypical immunofluorescence staining (CXCR3+CRTH2+) related to immature T cells support the immunomodulatory effects of GMA. These findings could help to understand the pathology of UC and to identify targeted immune subpopulations for treatment

P0246 UEG.pdf

Ailing Song, Hai Jiang, Liang Guo, Shanshan Wu, Am J Transl Res 2021;13(5):5156-5164

Objectives: The study discussed and analyzed the combined efficacy of adalimumab with granulocyte and monocyte adsorption apheresis (GMA) method on patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and the repair of intestinal mucosal lesion. Methods: 60 UC patients in moderate-to-severe active phase that hospitalized from January 2017 to March 2020 were chosen and randomly classified into observation group (n=30) and control group (n=30). The control-group patients received GMA treatment, and the observation-group patients received combination therapy of GMA and adalimumab. The therapeutic efficacy, laboratory indicators, changes of serum inflammatory factors, and intestinal mucosal barrier impairment in two sets of participants were compared. Results: The comprehensive effective rate of clinical treatment was remarkably higher in observation group than that in control group (P<0.05). CRP and ESR of the two groups in post- treatment were notably lower than those before treatment (P<0.05), while Hb and ALB in post-treatment increased significantly than in pre-intervention (P<0.05); CRP in observation group after treatment was remarkably lower than that in control group (P<0.05), while no significant difference was noticed in ESR, ALB and Hb between the two groups (P>0.05). The serum inflammatory factors in observation group in post-treatment were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The scores of PCT, DAO and intestinal mucosa in two sets of participants in post-treatment were dramatically lower than those in pre-treatment (P<0.05), and the scores in observation group after treatment were notably lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions: The combined efficacy of adalimumab with GMA on UC patients can improve the clinical curative efficacy, effectively reduce the inflammatory factors, which is beneficial to the repair of intestinal mucosal barrier function, and worthy of clinical application.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34150104/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8205815/pdf/ajtr0013-5156.pdf

Outtier A, Ferrante M, Clin Exp Gastroenterol. 2021; 14: 277–290. Doi.:10.2147/CEG.S219556

Pouchitis can be suspected based on clinical symptoms and laboratory findings, but should be confirmed with endoscopy and histology. Clear definitions should be used to classify pouchitis into acute versus chronic, and responsive versus dependent versus refractory to antibiotics. Before treatment is started for chronic antibiotic-refractory pouchitis, secondary causes should be ruled out. Also, scoring the disease, taking into account the quality of life of the patient, should guide you in choosing the best treatment option for your patient.

Managing patients with chronic antibiotic-refractory pouchitis remains a challenge for the treating gastroenterologist or abdominal surgeon. Because chronic antibiotic-refractory pouchitis is mainly immune mediated, therapeutic options are similar to the treatment strategies for inflammatory bowel diseases. Treatments with antibiotics, aminosalicylates, steroids, immunomodulators and biologics has been shown to be effective for chronic antibiotic-refractory pouchitis. Also, treatments with AST-120, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, tacrolimus enemas, and granulocyte and monocyte apheresis suggested some efficacy. The available data are weak but suggest that therapeutic options for chronic antibiotic-refractory pouchitis are similar to the treatment strategies for inflammatory bowel diseases. However, randomized controlled trials are warranted to further identify the best treatment options in this patient population.

Chronic Antibiotic-Refractory Pouchitis: Management Challenges | CEG (dovepress.com)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8213947/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8213947/pdf/ceg-14-277.pdf

Satoshi Tanida

poster at ISFA 2019 pag 56

Background and Aim: A monotherapy with intensive GMA, biologics or a JAK inhibitor are limited in patients with intractable Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC). We retrospectively evaluated the 10- and 52-week efficacy and safety of combination therapy of intensive GMA with biologics or a JAK inhibitor for intractable UC or CD.
Method: A combination of intensive GMA (2 sessions a week, total 10 times) with tofacitinib (TOF) for active UC was performed and that of intensive GMA with ustekinumab (UST) for active CD was done. Results: Of 6 consecutive UC patients receiving a combination therapy of TOF (20 mg daily for 8 weeks as induction therapy and subsequently 10 mg daily) plus intensive GMA for moderately-to-severely active UC and loss of response to corticosteroids, azathioprine, and/ or biologic therapies, 67% (4 cases) displayed clinical remission according to Mayo score and 100% displayed mucosal healing at 10 weeks. A temporary increase in CPK were seen. Of 5 consecutive CD patients receiving a combination therapy of ustekinumab (every 8 weeks) plus intensive GMA for moderately-to-severely active CD and loss of response to corticosteroids, azathioprine, and/or biologic therapies, 75% displayed cumulative steroid-free clinical remission at 10 weeks and did such remission over 52 weeks under subsequent maintenance monotherapy of UST. The mean CDAI at baseline were 257. Its values at 10 and 52 weeks after the combination therapy with UST plus intensive GMA were 48 and 68, respectively. One case showed mucosal healing at 52 weeks according to SES-CD. No adverse events were observed. Conclusions: Combination therapy of intensive GMA with biologics or a JAK inhibitor appeared to be effective and safe for refractory UC or CD.

http://www.atalacia.com/isfa/data/abstract.pdf

Axel Dignass ¹, Ayesha Akbar ², Ailsa Hart ², Sreedhar Subramanian ³, Gilles Bommelaer ⁴, Daniel C Baumgart ⁵, Jean-Charles Grimaud ⁶, Guillaume Cadiot ⁷, Richard Makins ⁸, Syed Hoque ⁹, Guillaume Bouguen ¹⁰, Bruno Bonaz ¹¹ , J Crohns Colitis. 2016 Jul;10(7):812-20. 

At Week 12, Adacolumn provided significant clinical benefit in a large cohort of steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis patients with previous failure to immunosuppressant and/or biologic treatment, with a favourable safety profile. These results are consistent with previous studies and support Adacolumn use in this difficult-to-treat patient subgroup.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26818659/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4955912/pdf/jjw032.pdf