title: Ustekinumab: moving the target from psoriasis to Crohn's disease.
abstract: Crohn's disease (CD) is an inflammatory bowel disease whose precise etiology is still unknown, and therefore a causal therapy is not yet available. Studies showing the overexpression of IL-12 and IL-23, polymorphisms in genes encoding those cytokines and their receptors and genome-wide association studies have linked Crohn's pathogenesis with IL-12/23 pathway. Ustekinumab is a novel therapeutic IgG₁ kappa monoclonal antibody that modulates Th1 and Th17 function, by blocking the p40 subunit of both IL-12 and IL-23 and preventing the interaction with their receptors on T cells, natural killer cells and antigen-presenting cells with established efficacy in psoriasis. This review will mainly focus on the available evidence on the role of ustekinumab in moderate-to-severe CD. The potential role of this biologic in the armamentarium of CD therapy is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterologia SOD2, AOU Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Settesoldi
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coppola
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rogai
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Annese
mesh_terms: D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D053759:Interleukin-23 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000187:drug effects; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D000069549:Ustekinumab
chemical_list: D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D053759:Interleukin-23; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D018664:Interleukin-12; D000069549:Ustekinumab