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©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. Aug 15, 2016; 7(3): 266-275
Published online Aug 15, 2016. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v7.i3.266
Published online Aug 15, 2016. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v7.i3.266
Novel biomarkers of fibrosis in Crohn’s disease
Gianluca Pellino, Francesco Selvaggi, Unit of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic and Ageing Sciences, Second University of Naples, 80138 Naples, Italy
Pierlorenzo Pallante, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology, National Research Council, c/o Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80131 Naples, Italy
Author contributions: Pellino G and Pallante P performed research and wrote the paper; Selvaggi F contributed critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose for this manuscript.
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: Francesco Selvaggi, MD, EBSQ (Colo.), Associate Professor of General Surgery, Unit of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic and Ageing Sciences, Second University of Naples, Piazza Miraglia 2, 80138 Naples, Italy. fselvaggi@hotmail.com
Telephone: +39-81-5667919 Fax: +39-81-5667919
Received: April 21, 2016
Peer-review started: April 22, 2016
First decision: June 6, 2016
Revised: June 27, 2016
Accepted: July 20, 2016
Article in press: July 22, 2016
Published online: August 15, 2016
Peer-review started: April 22, 2016
First decision: June 6, 2016
Revised: June 27, 2016
Accepted: July 20, 2016
Article in press: July 22, 2016
Published online: August 15, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Fibrosis occurs in a disturbingly large proportion of patients suffering from Crohn’s disease (CD), and invasive procedures may be required for both its diagnosis and treatment. Several biomarkers of intestinal fibrosis have recently been proposed. Most of them still need to be validated, but they could be useful for obtaining an early diagnosis of fibrosis, thereby allowing timely treatment and delaying or even avoiding surgery. A comprehensive overview of recently introduced biomarkers of fibrosis in CD is presented, along with a discussion of the controversial areas remaining in this field.