Project description:BackgroundUlcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the colon characterized by episodes of disease activity and symptom-free remission.There is paucity of evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of complementary or alternative medicines for the management of UC. Curcumin, an anti-inflammatory agent, has been used in many chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, esophagitis and post-surgical inflammation. The efficacy of this agent for maintenance of remission in patients with UC has not been systematically evaluated.ObjectivesThe primary objective was to systematically review the efficacy and safety of curcumin for maintenance of remission in UC.Search methodsA computer-assisted literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Cochrane Inflammatory Bowel Disease Specialized Trial Register was performed on July 11, 2012 to identify relevant publications. Proceedings from major gastroenterology meetings and references from published articles were also searched to identify additional studies.Selection criteriaRandomized placebo-controlled trials (RCT) of curcumin for maintenance of remission in UC were included. Studies included patients (of any age) who were in remission at the time of recruitment. Co-interventions were allowed.Data collection and analysisTwo authors independently extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Data were analyzed using Review Manager (RevMan 5.1). We calculated the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for each dichotomous outcome. For continuous outcomes we calculated the mean difference (MD) and 95% CI.Main resultsOnly one trial (89 patients) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. This trial randomized 45 patients to curcumin and 44 patients to placebo. All patients received treatment with sulfasalazine or mesalamine. The study was rated as low risk of bias. Curcumin was administered orally in a dose of 2 g/day for six months. Fewer patients relapsed in the curcumin group than the placebo group at six months. Four per cent of patients in the curcumin group relapsed at six months compared to 18% of patients in the placebo group (RR 0.24, 95% CI 0.05 to 1.09; P = 0.06). There was no statistically significant difference in relapse rates at 12 months. Twenty-two per cent of curcumin patients relapsed at 12 months compared to 32% of placebo patients (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.35 to 1.40; P = 0.31). A total of nine adverse events were reported in seven patients. These adverse events included sensation of abdominal bulging, nausea, transient hypertension, and transient increase in the number of stools. The authors did not report which treatment group the patients who experienced adverse events belonged to. The clinical activity index (CAI) at six months was significantly lower in the curcumin group compared to the placebo group (1.0 + 2.0 versus 2.2 + 2.3; MD -1.20, 95% CI -2.14 to -0.26). The endoscopic index (EI) at six months was significantly lower in the curcumin group than in the placebo group (0.8 + 0.6 versus 1.6 + 1.6; MD -0.80, 95% CI -1.33 to -0.27).Authors' conclusionsCurcumin may be a safe and effective therapy for maintenance of remission in quiescent UC when given as adjunctive therapy along with mesalamine or sulfasalazine. However, further research in the form of a large scale methodologically rigorous randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm any possible benefit of curcumin in quiescent UC.
Project description:Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), the main forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in human beings, are chronic relapsing-remitting disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, which usually require lifelong therapies. For many years, IBD have been managed with corticosteroids, aminosalicylates and immunosuppressants (ie, thiopurines). The advent of biologic therapies (anti-TNF-α agents) has significantly improved the outcome of IBD patients in terms of prolonged clinical remission, corticosteroid sparing, achievement of mucosal healing and prevention of disease-related complications. Nevertheless, primary failure or loss of response to biologics occur in about 50% of patients treated with these drugs. Therefore, the need for new effective treatments for such patients has critically emerged as an urgent priority. With this regard, several small-molecule drugs (SMDs) targeting lymphocyte trafficking (ie, sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulators) and the JAK/STAT pathway (eg, tofacitinib) have been recently developed and tested in IBD. In particular, JAK inhibitors are oral compounds characterized by short half-life, low antigenicity and the ability to dampen several pro-inflammatory pathways simultaneously. Tofacitinib, a pan-JAK inhibitor, has shown good efficacy and safety in UC clinical trials and has been recently approved for the treatment of UC patients. In this review, we analyze the main evidence supporting the use of JAK inhibitors in UC and explore the unanswered questions about the use of this class of drug in UC.
Project description:BackgroundTofacitinib is an oral, small molecule Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). Here, we performed an integrated analysis of malignancy events from the tofacitinib phase 3 UC clinical development program (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer [NMSC]).MethodsData (up to May 2019) were pooled from two phase 3 induction studies, a phase 3 maintenance study, and an ongoing, open-label, long-term extension (OLE) study, and analyzed as 3 cohorts: induction (N = 1139), maintenance (N = 592), and overall (induction, maintenance, and ongoing OLE study; N = 1124). Proportions and incidence rates (IRs; unique patients with events per 100 patient-years [PY] of exposure) for malignancies confirmed by adjudication were calculated.ResultsThe overall cohort consisted of patients who received at least 1 dose of tofacitinib at 5 or 10 mg twice daily, for up to 6.8 years, with an exposure of 2576.4 PY. Of the 1124 overall cohort tofacitinib-treated patients, 20 developed a malignancy (excluding NMSC; IR, 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.46-1.16), of which 17 occurred in patients treated with tofacitinib 10 mg twice daily; importantly, more than 80% of patients predominantly received this dose. Furthermore, there was no apparent clustering of malignancy types, and IRs were stable over time.ConclusionsIn the tofacitinib UC clinical development program, malignancy events were infrequent, and rates were comparable with those in the tofacitinib rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis clinical development programs, and for biologic UC treatments. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01465763, NCT01458951, NCT01458574, and NCT01470612.
Project description:Background and aimThis study aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of vedolizumab treatment with or without concomitant immunomodulator use in Japanese patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis.MethodsAmong enrolled patients in a phase 3 study conducted in Japan (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02039505), data from patients allocated to 300-mg intravenous vedolizumab for induction and maintenance phases were used for this exploratory analysis. Efficacy endpoints were clinical response, clinical remission, and mucosal healing at week 10 and clinical remission and mucosal healing at week 60, and disease worsening and treatment failure during the maintenance phase.ResultsAt week 10, the differences in clinical response, clinical remission, and mucosal healing rates between the subgroups (those with concomitant immunomodulator use minus those without) were 0.7 (95% confidence interval: -14.3, 15.7), 3.3 (95% confidence interval: -8.5, 15.2), and 1.8 (95% confidence interval: -13.0, 16.5), respectively. At week 60, the differences in clinical remission and mucosal healing between the subgroups with and without concomitant immunomodulator use were 26.1 (95% confidence interval: -3.5, 55.6) and 29.9 (95% confidence interval: 1.4, 58.4), respectively. The proportions of patients without treatment failure at day 330 of the maintenance phase were 90.7% with concomitant immunomodulator use and 73.7% without. No marked differences in incidence of infections were observed between subgroups.ConclusionsThis study suggested the possibility that concomitant immunomodulator use may be beneficial to maintain the clinical efficacy of vedolizumab.
Project description:Background and aimsThis study assessed the efficacy of maintenance treatment with multimatrix mesalazine following achievement of complete or partial remission after induction treatment with high-dose multimatrix mesalazine.MethodsIn this phase 3b/4, open-label, multicentre, prospective, single-arm study, patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis were treated with multimatrix mesalazine 4.8g/day once daily for 8 weeks [induction phase]. At Week 8, those who achieved complete or partial remission, based on predefined clinical and endoscopic criteria, were eligible to receive 12 months of multimatrix mesalazine 2.4g/day once daily maintenance therapy. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients in complete remission at Month 12.ResultsA total of 717 patients received induction treatment; 25.9% and 39.3% of patients achieved complete and partial remission, respectively, at Week 8. A total of 461 patients entered the maintenance phase. The likelihood of remaining in/achieving complete remission at Month 12 was higher for patients who entered the maintenance phase in complete remission compared with those who began maintenance in partial remission [47.8% vs 26.0%; p < 0.001]. At Month 12, mucosal healing [endoscopy score ≤ 1] was demonstrated in 76.4% [139/182] and 63.5% [176/277] of those who were in complete and partial remission, respectively, at the end of induction.ConclusionPatients achieving complete remission before dose reduction were more likely to remain in remission at Month 12.
Project description:AimMaintenance treatment in ulcerative colitis should be as convenient as possible, to increase the chance of compliance. MMX mesalazine is a once-daily, high-strength (1.2 g/tablet) formulation of 5-aminosalicylic acid. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of MMX mesalazine dosed once or twice daily as maintenance therapy in patients with ulcerative colitis.MethodsThis multicentre, randomised, open-label trial enrolled patients with strictly defined clinical and endoscopic remission, immediately following an episode of mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. Patients were randomised to MMX mesalazine 2.4 g/day as a single (2x1.2 g tablet) or divided dose (1x1.2 g tablet twice daily) for 12 months.Results174 patients (37.9%; safety population n = 459) experienced 384 adverse events, the majority of which were mild or moderate in intensity. Eighteen patients (3.9%), nine in each group, experienced a total of 22 serious adverse events (10 in the once-daily and 12 in the twice-daily group). Most serious adverse events were gastrointestinal, experienced by 5 patients in the once-daily and 4 in the twice-daily group. At month 12, 64.4% (efficacy population, n = 451) of patients in the once-daily and 68.5% of patients in the twice-daily group were in clinical and endoscopic remission (p = 0.351). At month 12, 88.9% and 93.2% in each group, respectively, had maintained clinical remission (were relapse free).ConclusionsMMX mesalazine 2.4 g/day administered as a single or divided dose demonstrated a good safety profile, was well tolerated and was effective as maintenance treatment. High clinical and endoscopic remission rates can be achieved with once-daily dosing.Trial registration numberNCT00151944.