Concurrent occurrence of ulcerative duodenitis and ulcerative colitis displaying unique responses to golimumab and...

Recent studies have reported the occurrence of upper gastrointestinal (UGI) inflammation in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). However, whether UC-associated UGI and colorectal lesions share pathogenic cytokine profiles and responses to biologics remains unknown. Herein, we report a case of concurrent UC and ulcerative duodenitis (UD) that displayed unique responses to biologic treatment. Although treatment with prednisolone (PSL) failed to induce remission in both disorders, golimumab (GLM) and ustekinumab (UST) were effective against UD and UC, respectively, and remission of both disorders was achieved using UST. Immunofluorescence analyses revealed that numbers of immune cells expressing TNF-α were comparable in both duodenal and rectal mucosa before the treatment. GLM or UST treatment markedly decreased numbers of TNF-α-expressing duodenal immune cells, suggesting the presence of correlation between TNF-α expression and disease activity of UD. In contrast, TNF-α expression was not parallel to disease activity of UC because GLM or PSL failed to induce remission despite a marked reduction in TNF-α expression. Responsiveness to GLM or UST together with immunofluorescence studies suggests that TNF-α and IL-12/23p40 are pathogenic cytokines causing UD and UC, respectively, in the present case.