Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease from the immunological perspective

Since 1950, the number of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Japan has been increasing. Recent research data indicate that the pathophysiology of IBD involves abnormalities in disease susceptibility genes, environmental factors and intestinal bacteria. The elucidation of the mechanism of IBD has facilitated therapeutic development based on basic research data. In particular, the emergence of biologics has brought about a paradigm shift in the treatment of IBD. However, there are still IBD patients who are refractory to these biologics. IBD pathophysiology is extremely complex. Therefore, to address these clinical issues, further clinical and basic data are required. The bottom line of IBD drug therapy is still to use the most of recent treatments. Therefore, the physicians should be familiar with the modes of action (MOA) of the available drugs.