Cecilia Gelfi
University of Milan, Italy
Title: Towards personalized therapy of IBD: Identification of specific serum and lipid profile for responders versus non-responders to anti-TNF treatment by Maldi mass
Biography
Biography: Cecilia Gelfi
Abstract
Infl ammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic and relapsing infl ammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract and comprise Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Both CD and UC are characterized by a great extent of heterogeneity, in terms of phenotypic presentation and response to diff erent therapies; in fact, whereas some patients present limited bowel involvement and a very mild course of disease, others develop very extensive, aggressive disease, displaying extra intestinal manifestations as well. On the same line, the effi cacy of diff erent therapeutic strategies is extremely variable from patient to patient. As such, a subset of IBD may require the use of biological drugs targeting TNF, which is a key mediator in IBD inflammatory response; however, up to 10- 20% of patients do not respond to anti-TNF agents. Th us, studies to defi ne subgroups of patients with UC and CD who may benefi t from TNF-blockade are needed. To this purpose, a study based on serum and lipid profi ling of patients aff ected by UC and CD has been performed utilizing MALDI mass spectrometry profi ling to identify specifi c markers of therapeutic response. Th e study was conducted on UC and CD patients of both genders andpatients were followed up to the fourth infusionin order to evaluate response to anti-TNF antibody treatment. Results indicated a diff erence in serum profiling between men and women aft er treatment. Th e analysis of UC responders and non-responders to anti-TNF treatment revealed the presence of 43 peaks, so called best separators between cohorts. Concerning CD, MALDI profi les indicated signifi cant statistical diff erence in 48 peaks. Comparing UC and CD, the presence of peaks (29 for men, 15 for women) characteristics of the disease was determined. Th e identifi cation of peaks is in progress and will determine target molecules contributing to clarify the physio pathological mechanisms associated to anti-TNF response. Nevertheless, the serological profi le provided by this study will contribute to select the right candidates to anti-TNF treatment