Xiu-Li Chen, Jing-Wei Mao, and Ying-De Wang, World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. 2020 May 12; 11(3): 43–56.

The etiology and pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, are not fully understood so far. Therefore, IBD still remains incurable despite the fact that significant progress has been achieved in recent years in its treatment with innovative medicine. About 20 years ago, selective granulocyte and monocyte apheresis (GMA) was invented in Japan and later approved by the Japanese health authority for IBD treatment. From then on this technique was extensively used for IBD patients in Japan and later in Europe. Clinical trials from Japan and European countries have verified the effectiveness and safety of GMA therapy in patients with IBD. In 2013, GMA therapy was approved by China State Food and Drug Administration for therapeutic use for the Chinese IBD patients. However, GMA therapy has not been extensively used in China, although a few clinical studies also showed that it was effective in clinical and endoscopic induction of remission in Chinese IBD patients with a high safety profile. This article reviews past history, present clinical application as well as the future prospective of GMA therapy for patients with IBD.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7226913/

N Toita, H Tanaka, K Arai, H Shimizu, D Abukawa, T Kobayashi, N Yoshimura, S Tanida, E Hosoi, Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, Volume 13, Issue Supplement_1, March 2019

Background: The usefulness of granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) in paediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has not been studied in depth. We investigated the safety and effectiveness of GMA in paediatric patients with IBD who participated in a post-marketing surveillance study referred to as the PARTICULAR study.

Methods: The PARTICULAR study was a retrospective, multi-centre cohort study that included patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease (CD) who received GMA between November 2013 and March 2017. The study enrolled patients with at least one special situation, including paediatric, being elderly, with anaemia and concomitant treatment with multiple immunosuppressants. Patients aged >18 years were excluded from this study. The GMA was performed using Adacolumn® (JIMRO, Takasaki, Japan). Each patient underwent up to 11 GMA sessions. All adverse events (AEs) were recorded during the observation time interval. Any AE, for which the causality of the GMA could not be ruled out was classified as an adverse device effect (ADE). In addition, feasibility problems (FPs) during the operation of the GMA column were recorded. The effectiveness of GMA was assessed in UC patients with a partial Mayo (pMayo) score of ≥3. Remission was defined as a pMayo score of ≤2. Patients receiving concomitant treatment with infliximab, adalimumab or calcineurin inhibitors were excluded from the effectiveness assessment.

Results: A total of 53 paediatric patients (40 UC, 13 CD) from 27 institutions, with a mean age of 15.0 years, were included. The incidence of AEs, ADEs and FPs were 18.9%, 5.7% and 20.8%, respectively. The ADEs included abdominal discomfort in 2 (3.8%) patients and one patient each with fever, nausea/vomiting and headache (1.9% each). The FPs included blood access failure in 10 patients (18.9%), venous pressure elevation in 4 (7.5%), clot formation in the apheresis lines in 2 (3.8%) and venous access difficulty in 1 patient (1.9%). A total of 17 patients (32.1%) discontinued GMA therapy ahead of the planned treatment schedule. Among these patients, the GMA therapy was discontinued for the following reasons: (1) decision by the physician (n = 12), (2) withdrawal due to AE (n = 4) and (3) withdrawal by own wish (n = 1); none were discontinued due to ADE and FP. The effectiveness of the GMA was assessed in 29 UC patients. The remission rate of the paediatric UC patients was 43.5%. Conclusions: There were AEs and FPs in approximately 20% of paediatric patients with IBD treated by GMA, but none of these discontinued the GMA treatment due to ADE or FP. Remission was achieved by GMA in 44% of the paediatric UC patients. This study showed that GMA was well tolerated treatment option for the paediatric IBD patients.

https://academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/article/13/Supplement_1/S281/5301146?login=true

N Ueno, Y Murakami, T Iwama, T Sasaki, T Kunogi, K Takahashi, K Tanaka, K Ando, S Kashima, Y Inaba, K Moriichi, H Tanabe, M Taruishi, M Fujiya, T Okumura, Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, Volume 13, Issue Supplement_1, March 2019

Fcal is considered to be a useful and objective predictor of the efficacy of GMA treatment in UC patients and superior to symptomatic scores and blood parameters

https://academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/article/13/Supplement_1/S423/5300757

Shoichi Nishise ¹, Yuji Takeda ², Hidetoshi Nara ², Yasuhiko Abe ¹, Yu Sasaki ¹, Hironobu Asao ², Yoshiyuki Ueno ¹ , Ther Apher Dial. 2018 Jun;22(3):261-265.

These results suggest that independent of incubation temperature, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 are likely to adsorb CA beads. These molecules may be a new index for predicting the therapeutic effects of GMA.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29745046/

Shuai Ma ¹, Qingqing Xu ¹, Bo Deng ¹, Yin Zheng ², Hongyan Tian ¹, Li Wang ³, Feng Ding ⁴ , Intensive Care Med Exp. 2017 Dec;5(1):18.

This study showed that selective granulocyte and monocyte adsorption with cellulose acetate beads might ameliorate cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis and improve survival and organ function.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5366986/pdf/40635_2017_Article_129.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28342161/

Masanao Sakanoue ¹, Yuko Higashi ¹, Takuro Kanekura ¹ ,Ther Apher Dial. 2017 Dec;21(6):628-634.

The clinical effectiveness of GMA may be attributable to the inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the induction of anti-inflammatory MDSCs by iC3b activation via the CA beads in the GMA column.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28941055/

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/

Zhenfei Liu ¹, Xueliang Jiang ², Chengcheng Sun ³ ,Eur J Intern Med. 2016 Dec;36:e26-e27.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27614377/

Shoichi Nishise ¹, Yasuhiko Abe ¹, Eiki Nomura ², Takeshi Sato ¹, Yu Sasaki ¹, Daisuke Iwano ¹, Kazuya Yoshizawa ¹, Makoto Yagi ¹, Kazuhiro Sakuta ¹, Yoshiyuki Ueno ¹ , Ther Apher Dial. 2016 Aug;20(4):354-9.

 In conclusion, CA beads inhibited IL-23 release from adsorbed GMs. The biological effects of this decrease in IL-23 release during GM adsorption to CA beads need further clarification.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27523075/

Yoshitaka Hara ¹, Yasuyo Shimomura ¹, Tomoyuki Nakamura ¹, Naohide Kuriyama ¹, Chizuru Yamashita ¹, Yu Kato ¹, Taku Miyasho ², Toshikazu Sakai ¹, Shingo Yamada ³, Kazuhiro Moriyama ¹, Osamu Nishida ¹ , Ther Apher Dial 2015 Aug;19(4):308-15.

We have been developing a new blood purification system for regulating excessive immune reactions in severe sepsis and septic shock using a granulocyte adsorbing column (Adacolumn [Ada]), and a cytokine-adsorbing hemofilter (AN69ST hemofilter [AN69]). Fresh porcine blood was circulated for 6 h in five experimental groups including Ada and AN69 to assess the effects of leukocyte adsorption, phagocytic activity and adhesiveness of granulocytes. In the present study, we found that Ada mainly adsorbed granulocytes and monocytes, but not lymphocytes. The phagocytic activity level of granulocytes decreased, and adhesiveness increased, but the number of CD11b-positive cells markedly decreased in the current system. Elevated cytokine levels (IL-1β, IL-8 and IL-10) at the outlet of Ada were significantly lower than at the outlet of AN69 due to cytokine adsorption. Further studies are needed to better understand cellular interactions.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26386217/