Nardone OM¹, Shivaji UN¹, Ferruzza V¹, Ghosh S^1,2,3,4, Iacucci M^1,2,3,4. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2019 Oct 6. pii: izz226. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izz226. [Epub ahead of print]

Author information

1 Institute of Translational Medicine and Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham, UK.

2 University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, UK.

3 NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University of Birmingham and University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Birmingham, UK.

4 Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Abstract

The traditional management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) based on symptom control is not considered valid anymore by most specialists in this field, and a new paradigm called "treat to target" has been introduced. This is based on the assessment of disease activity using objective measures. The identification of noninvasive biomarkers is crucial to diagnosis and monitor IBD because frequent endoscopic examinations are costly and uncomfortable for the patient. In this review, we focus on blood markers that may be able to assess mucosal healing (MH) in IBD and recent advances in this area. Introduction of commercial panel to predict MH opens the way for further developments so that colonoscopy or fecal markers may be avoided in some patients. This may also permit frequent monitoring for therapeutic response and achieve MH. It is a challenging area of research to identify a panel of biomarkers that may reflect inflammation and healing to serve as a surrogate of MH.