On reproduction and other gender and sex-related issues in inflammatory bowel disease

No one would argue that men and women differ. The differences between the sexes are obvious and affect every aspect of life. The biological grounds for these differences are determined by the complementary yet distinct roles of the two sexes in the process of procreation. The success of human reproduction is related to the very efficient selection process for the proper genetic material that will, after 40 weeks of intense physical investm

Immunogenicity negatively influences the outcome of adalimumab treatment in Crohn's disease

Background: Adalimumab is an effective treatment in patients with Crohn's disease; as it is a humanized anti-tumour necrosis factor monoclonal antibody, immunogenicity is thought not to be of any significance. Aim: To assess whether antibodies to adalimumab (ATAs) affect adalimumab treatment outcome in patients with Crohn's disease previously treated with infliximab. Methods: A retrospective study was p

Determination of thiopurine S-methyltransferase activity by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography hyphenated with mass spectrometry

Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) plays an important role in the metabolism of thiopurines used in the therapy of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In this work a new progressive method for the determination of TPMT activity in red blood cells lysates was developed. Analysis was carried out by means of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) hyphenated with mass spectrometry (MS). In comparison with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), that has been typically applied in determination of TPMT activity, the HILIC significantly improved the analytical signal provided by MS, shortened analysis time, and improved chromatographic resolution. The HILIC-HPLC-MS method was optimized and validated, providing favorable parameters of detection and quantitation limits (5.5 an

Analytical and Sample Preparation Protocol for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of 12 Thiopurine Metabolites Related to Clinical Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Thiopurines (TP) represent an important therapeutic tool for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in the current situation of rising incidence and health care costs. The results of multiple clinical studies aimed at finding correlations between levels of TP metabolites and response of IBD patients to the treatment are, however, often controversial due to variability in analytical and sample preparation procedures among these studies. In this work, therefore, an updated analytical and sample preparation procedure for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of TP metabolites in blood samples obtained from patients with IBD was proposed to establish a unified protocol. An advanced analytical method based on ion-exchange liquid chromatography hyphenated with tandem mass

A prospective study of the safety of lower gastrointestinal endoscopy during pregnancy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Introduction: Women with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] have a higher risk of undergoing gastrointestinal [GI] endoscopy during pregnancy than healthy women. Data on endoscopic procedures during pregnancy in IBD women are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety of lower GI endoscopy during pregnancy in IBD women. Methods: All consecutive IBD women who underwent endoscopy during pregnancy [cases] from 2008-2014 were prospectively included. Cases were matched 1:1 on age, IBD medication, and disease activity with pregnant IBD patients without endoscopy during pregnancy [controls]. Maternal and neonatal outcomes were compared between th

Sex-dimorphic adverse drug reactions to immune suppressive agents in inflammatory bowel disease

AIM: To analyze sex differences in adverse drug reactions (ADR) to the immune suppressive medication in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. METHODS: All IBD patients attending the IBD outpatient clinic of a referral hospital were identifed through the electronic diagnosis registration system. The electronic medical records of IBD patients were reviewed and the files of those patients who have used immune suppressive therapy for IBD, i.e., thiopurines, methotrexate, cyclosporine, tacrolimus and anti-tumor necrosis factor agents (anti-TNF); infiximab (IFX), adalimumab (ADA) and/or certolizumab, were further analyzed. The reported ADR to immune suppressive drugs were noted. The general definition of ADR used in clinical practice comprised the occurrence of the ADR in the temporal relationship with its disappearance upon discontinuation of the medication. Patients for whom the required information on drug use and ADR was not available in the electronic medical record and patients with only one registered contact and no further followup at the outpatient clinic were excluded. The difference in the incidence and type of ADR between male and female IBD patients were analyzed statistically by χ2 test. RESULTS: In total, 1009 IBD patients were identifed in the electronic diagnosis registration syst

Phenotype of inflammatory bowel disease at diagnosis in the Netherlands: A population-based inception cohort study (the Delta Cohort)

Background: To describe the clinical characteristics of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at diagnosis in Netherlands at the population level in the era of biologics. Methods: All patients with newly diagnosed IBD (diagnosis made between January 1, 2006 and January 1, 2007) followed in 9 general hospitals in the southwest of the Netherlands were included in this population-based inception cohort study. Results: A total of 413 patients were enrolled, of which 201 Crohn's disease (CD) (48.7%), 188 ulcerative colitis (UC) (45.5%), and 24 IBD unclassified (5.8%), with a median age of 38 years (range, 14-95). Seventy-eight patients with CD (38.8%) had ileocolonic disease and 73 patients (36.3%) had pure colonic disease. In 8 patients (4.0%), the upper gastrointestinal tract was involved. Nineteen patients with CD (9.5%) had perianal disease. Thirty-nine patients with CD (19.4%) had stricturing phenotype. Of the patients with UC and IBDU, 39 (18.4%) suffered from pancolitis and 61 (29%) from proctitis. Severe endoscopic lesions at diagnosis were seen in 119 patients (28.8%, 68 CD, 49 UC, and 2 IBDU), whereas 98 patients (23.7%) had severe histological disease activity. Thirteen patients (3.1%, 10 CD and 3 UC) had extraintestinal manifestations at diagnosis. Twenty-three patients (5.6%, 20 CD and 3 UC) had fistula at diagnosis. Conclusions: In this cohort, 31% of the patients with CD had complicated disease at diagnosis, 39% had ileocolonic disease, 9.5% had perianal disease, and in 4% the upper gastrointestinal tract was involved. Most patients with UC suffered from left-sided colitis (51%). Severe endoscopic lesions were reported in 34% of the patients with CD and 26% of the patients with UC. Three percent of the patients with IBD had extraintestinal manifestations. Copyrigh