Novel therapeutics in inflammatory bowel disease

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Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. These are chronic disorders of the gut that have no known antigenic triggers and no known cures. However, much has been learned regarding the immunoinflammatory response of these disorders and in the past few years approaches to modulate biological mediators of inflammation have proven somewhat effective. Lymphocytes have a critical role in the ongoing inflammation of IBD. Understanding mechanisms of lymphocyte trafficking to the gut via important adhesion molecule receptors, particularly of the β2 and β7 integrins and their immunoglobulin-like receptors such as ICAM-1 and MAdCAM, has defined important differences between IBD and the normal gut. Harnessing these molecules has proved challenging. Defining key cytokines, the inflammatory messengers from these lymphocytes and paradigms of cytokine expression which seem different in Crohn’s disease than in ulcerative colitis has been critical to help target therapies for these d...