Inflammatory bowel diseases: Current problems and future tasks

Current knowledge on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is mainly endorsed by controlled trials and epidemiologic studies. Yet, we seldom look at the messages from real-world practice. Among a patient population followed since 2008, we looked at an unselected sample of 64 IBD patients [26 Crohn's disease (CD) and 38 ulcerative colitis (UC)] who had been seen as out-patients in the last year. Inducing remission, mesalamines (86% for UC/69% for CD/33%-16% as MMX formulation) prevailed as prescriptions; steroids (55%/19% for UC/CD) ranked second. Prescription of third-party drugs (antibiotics, NSAIDs, biologics) and adherence, were issues in the maintenance. 34% of CD, and 23% of UC patients showed accompanying immunologic diseases: CD-associated familiar psoriasis (4:9) ranked first. Main Message. The association between IBD (CD mainly) and psoriasis, now found in our practice, matches current basic science gathering IBD together with psoriasis (and perhaps chronic respiratory disease) under the comprehensive term "barrier organ disease" wherein an epithelial surface with sensor systems rules contacts between outer antigens and a reactive underneath tissue, with the balance between inflammation and quiescence kept at any time by mucosal permeability. IBD is thus viewed as a polyfactorial/polygenic/syndromic disorder, embedded into a galaxy of immune conditions offering multiple points of attack. This mindset of splitting the IBDs into pathogenic categories may allow overcoming the uniformly targeting of a single cytokine by biological drugs, in favor of demarcating the boundaries between different disease-subtype-specific indications, and paving the way to future personalized strategies.