Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 28, 2018; 24(36): 4093-4103
Published online Sep 28, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i36.4093
Interleukin 12/interleukin 23 pathway: Biological basis and therapeutic effect in patients with Crohn's disease
Ioanna Aggeletopoulou, Stelios F Assimakopoulos, Christos Konstantakis, Christos Triantos
Ioanna Aggeletopoulou, Christos Konstantakis, Christos Triantos, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, University of Patras, Patras 26504, Greece
Stelios F Assimakopoulos, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Patras, Patras 26504, Greece
Author contributions: Aggeletopoulou I and Konstantakis C were responsible for the literature review and analysis; Aggeletopoulou I, Assimakopoulos SF and Triantos C were responsible for the drafting of the manuscript and the data interpretation; Assimakopoulos SF and Triantos C were responsible for the revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Not related to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Christos Triantos, PhD, Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Patras, D. Stamatopoulou 4, Patras 26504, Greece. chtriantos@upatras.gr
Telephone: +30-69-72894651 Fax: +30-26-10625382
Received: July 16, 2018
Peer-review started: July 16, 2018
First decision: July 31, 2018
Revised: August 2, 2018
Accepted: August 24, 2018
Article in press: August 24, 2018
Published online: September 28, 2018
Processing time: 72 Days and 19.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The therapeutic management of Crohn’s disease patients not responding to treatment with anti-tumor necrosis factor agents remains a clinical challenge. Recently, there has been increased evidence regarding the development of new drugs with alternative mechanisms of action. Interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23 are important cytokines which are involved in the adaptive immune responses and their common pathway has been found to play a determinant role in the induction of inflammation. Clinical trials have assessed the therapeutic effect of an IL-12/IL-23 inhibitor (ustekinumab), demonstrating rapid clinical effect with a safety profile. Further studies are needed to elucidate its potential role as first-line therapy in Crohn’s disease.