Gene signatures of early response to anti-TNF drugs in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

T. Around a 20–30% of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients are diagnosed before they are 18 years old. Anti-TNF drugs can induce and maintain remission in IBD, however, up to 30% of patients do not respond. The aim of the work was to identify markers that would predict an early response to anti-TNF drugs in pediatric patients with IBD. The study population included 43 patients aged <18 years with IBD who started treatment with infliximab or adalimumab. Patients were classified into primary responders (n = 27) and non-responders to anti-TNF therapy (n = 6). Response to treatment could not be analyzed in 10 patients. Response was defined as a decrease in over 15 points in the disease activity indexes from week 0 to week 10 of infliximab treatment or from week 0 to week 26 of adalimumab treatment. The expression profiles of nine genes in total RNA isolated from the whole-blood of pediatric IBD patients taken before biologic administration and after 2 weeks were analyzed using qPCR and the 2−∆∆Ct method. Before initiation and after 2 weeks of treatment the expression of SMAD7 was decreased in patients who were considered as non-responders (p value < 0.05). Changes in expression were also observed for TLR2 at T0 and T2, although that did not reach the level of statistical significance. In addition, the expression of DEFA5 decreased 1.75-fold during the first 2 weeks of anti-TNF treatment in responders, whereas no changes were observed in non-responders. Expression of the SMAD7 gene is a pharmacogenomic biomarker of early response to anti-TNF agents in pediatric IBD. TLR2 and DEFA5 need to be validated in larger studies.This work was funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grants numbers PI16/00559 and PI19/00792), Consejería de Educación y Deporte de la Comunidad de Madrid (grant number PEJ16/MED/AI-1260), and by the Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute (grant number PRE-2018-2), The study was cofunded by ERDF Funds (FEDER) from the European Commission, “A way of making Europe

Whole Transcription Profile of Responders to Anti-TNF Drugs in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background: Up to 30% of patients with pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) do not respond to anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor (anti-TNF) therapy. The aim of this study was to identify pharmacogenomic markers that predict early response to anti-TNF drugs in pediatric patients with IBD. Methods: An observational, longitudinal, prospective cohort study was conducted. The study population comprised 38 patients with IBD aged 0.6 or <−0.6 and p value < 0.05). After validation, FCGR1A, FCGR1B, and GBP1 were overexpressed in non-responders two weeks after initiation of anti-TNF treatment (Log2FC 1.05, 1.21, and 1.08, respectively, p value < 0.05). Conclusion: Expression of the FCGR1A, FCGR1B, and GBP1 genes is a pharmacogenomic biomarker of early response to anti-TNF agents in pediatric IBD.This research was funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grants numbers PI16/00559 and PI19/00792), Consejería de Educación y Deporte de la Comunidad de Madrid (grant number PEJ16/MED/AI-1260), and by the Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute (grant number PRE-2018-2). The study was cofunded by European Regional Develompment Funds (FEDER) from the European Commission, “A way of making Europe”.S