title: Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis: The Therapeutic Road to Infliximab.
abstract: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that has significant morbidities in the pediatric population. Goals of medical therapy include induction and maintenance of remission while preserving the colon and it's function, while minimizing the risk of treatment related morbidities. For those children who do not respond to initial therapies and progress to develop moderately-to-severely active UC, there has been a dearth of available treatments to help induce remission, necessitating long-term corticosteroid usage, with associated comorbidities of chronic steroid treatment. Significant advances have been made in medical management, including the use of biologic therapies, specifically anti-tumor necrosis factor-α monoclonal antibodies. With the Food and Drug Administration's recent approval of the use of infliximab, a chimeric anti-tumor necrosis factor-α antibody, for children ≥6 years of age with moderately-to-severely active UC, care providers now have a new treatment regimen to offer this pediatric population.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Colorado, Digestive Health Institute, Anschutz Medical Campus, 13123 East 16th Avenue, B290, Denver, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Puthoor
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Colorado, Digestive Health Institute, Anschutz Medical Campus, 13123 East 16th Avenue, B290, Denver, USA.
authors.forename: Edwin F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: de Zoeten
keywords: Gastroenterology; Infliximab; Pediatric; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Ulcerative colitis