Shuji Ikegami, Keiko Maeda, Takeshi Urano, Jingxi Mu, Masanao Nakamura, Takeshi Yamamura, Tsunaki Sawada, Eri Ishikawa, Kenta Yamamoto, Hisanori Muto, Akina Oishi, Tadashi Iida, Yasuyuki Mizutani, Takuya Ishikawa, Naomi Kakushima, Kazuhiro Furukawa, Eizaburo Ohno, Takashi Honda, Masatoshi Ishigami, Hiroki Kawashima
BACKGROUND: Antitumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α antibodies have improved the outcome of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); but half of patients remain unresponsive to treatment. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) gene polymorphism is associated with resistance to anti-TNF-α antibodies, but therapies targeting IL-18 have not been clinically applied. Only the mature protein is biologically active, and we aimed to investigate whether specific inhibition of mature IL-18 using a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against a neoepitope of caspase-cleaved mature IL-18 could be an innovative treatment for IBD...
December 23, 2023: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases