Abbi R Saniabadi ¹, Tomotaka Tanaka ², Takayuki Yamamoto ³, Wolfgang Kruis ⁴, Rodolfo Sacco ⁵ , J Clin Apher 2019 Feb;34(1):51-60. 

Accordingly, for responder patients, GMA fulfills a desire to be treated without drugs.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30407662/

Shoichi Nishise ¹, Yuji Takeda ², Yasuhiko Abe ¹, Yu Sasaki ¹, Hidetoshi Nara ², Hironobu Asao ², Yoshiyuki Ueno ¹ , Ther Apher Dial. 2017 Jun;21(3):248-254.

These results suggest that warming the column during GMA might increase GM adsorption to CA beads, thereby enhancing the clinical efficacy of GMA.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28661094/

Abbi R Saniabadi ¹, Tomotaka Tanaka ¹, Toshihide Ohmori ¹, Koji Sawada ¹, Takayuki Yamamoto ¹, Hiroyuki Hanai  World J gastroenterol. 2014 Aug 7;20(29):9699-715

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are the major phenotypes of the idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which afflicts millions of individuals throughout the world with debilitating symptoms, impairing function and quality of life. Current medications are aimed at reducing the symptoms or suppressing exacerbations. However, patients require life-long medications, and this can lead to drug dependency, loss of response together with adverse side effects. Indeed, drug side effects become additional morbidity factor in many patients on long-term medications. Nonetheless, the efficacy of anti-tumour necrosis factors (TNF)-α biologics has validated the role of inflammatory cytokines notably TNF-α in the exacerbation of IBD. However, inflammatory cytokines are released by patients’ own cellular elements including myeloid lineage leucocytes, which in patients with IBD are elevated with activation behaviour and prolonged survival. Accordingly, these leucocytes appear logical targets of therapy and can be depleted by adsorptive granulocyte/monocyte apheresis (GMA) with an Adacolumn. Based on this background, recently GMA has been applied to treat patients with IBD in Japan and in the European Union countries. Efficacy rates have been impressive as well as disappointing. In fact the clinical response to GMA seems to define the patients’ disease course, response to medications, duration of active disease, and severity at entry. The best responders have been first episode cases (up to 100%) followed by steroid naïve and patients with a short duration of active disease prior to GMA. Patients with deep ulcers together with extensive loss of the mucosal tissue and cases with a long duration of IBD refractory to existing medications are not likely to benefit from GMA. It is clinically interesting that patients who respond to GMA have a good long-term disease course by avoiding drugs including corticosteroids in the early stage of their IBD. Additionally, GMA is very much favoured by patients for its good safety profile. GMA in 21st century reminds us of phlebotomy as a major medical practice at the time of Hippocrates. However, in patients with IBD, there is a scope for removing from the body the sources of pro-inflammatory cytokines and achieve disease remission. The bottom line is that by introducing GMA at an early stage following the onset of IBD or before patients develop extensive mucosal damage and become refractory to medications, many patients should respond to GMA and avoid pharmacologics. This should fulfill the desire to treat without drugs.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25110409/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4123360/

Y. Takeda, N. Shiobara, A. R. Saniabadi, M. Adachi & K. Hiraishi, Inflammation Research volume 53, pages 277–283 (2004)

Objective: Evolving evidence of anti-inflammatory effects is observed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis or ulcerative colitis following periodic adsorptive granulocyte and monocyte (GM) apheresis with a column containing cellulose acetate (CA) beads as apheresis carriers. This study was undertaken to obtain insights into mechanisms of anti-inflammatory actions of adsorptive GM apheresis with CA beads. Methods: In a series of in-vitro experiments, we investigated the effects of plasma proteins and the leucocytes β2 integrin (CD18) on granulocyte adsorption to CA beads. Results: Granulocyte adsorption to CA beads required plasma IgG, the complement C3 and was inhibited by an antibody to leucocytes CD18. Further, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) which have strong anti-inflammatory actions were released by granulocytes that adhered to CA beads. Conclusions: Plasma IgG, C3 derived complement activation fragments and leucocytes CD18 are involved in granulocyte adhesion to CA beads and hence the release of HGF and IL-1ra.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00011-004-1253-5