Th17-cytokine blockers as a new approach for treating inflammatory bowel disease

Anti-cytokine therapies, including the anti-TNF-α antibody-based therapies, have largely transformed the management of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). However, benefit is seen in nearly 50% of patients, and response can wane with time. Moreover, patients treated with anti-TNF-α antibodies can develop severe side-effects and new immune-mediated diseases. Therefore enormous effort has been made by the research community to elucidate new inflammatory networks in the IBD tissue and to develop novel anti-cytokine compounds, which may act in patients who do not respond to or cannot receive anti-TNF-α therapies. In this article we review the available data supporting the pathogenic role of Th17 cytokines in IBD, and discuss whether and how inhibitors of these inflammatory mediators may enter into the therapeutic armamentarium of IBD.