Browsing by Author "Eriksson, Julia"

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic autoimmune disease, with recurring inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Although the actual cause of the disease is still unknown, many molecular and underlying pathways have been discovered. Infliximab (IFX) is an effective and safe antibody medication that specifically targets the cytokine protein TNF-α. This medication is given to IBD patients who do not respond to other conventional drugs and who face the final step of surgery. However, around 30 % of IBD patients do not respond to this medication at all and another 50 % either lose the effect over time, or need to discontinue the medication due to severe side effects. Therefore, it would be important to find a biomarker that could predict the outcome of the medication. In this study, 73 IBD patients have given blood samples both before and three months after the start of IFX medication. From these blood samples the RNA was extracted and sequenced to get the transcriptome profiles. The aim of this study is to find novel biomarkers, that could be used as a predictive tool for the outcome of the medication. Seven significantly differentially expressed genes were found before IFX treatment initiation between responders and non-responders of the medication. Additionally, a clear effect from the IFX medication was seen in the transcriptome profiles.