Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cytokines and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Review

ABSTRACT. The etiology and pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains an area under intense investigation. Cytokine secretion, which is important in the regulation of nor-mal gastrointestinal immune responses, appears to be dysregu-lated in IBD. In Crohn’s disease, there appears to be an excessive TH1 T-cell response to an antigenic stimulus, leading to increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin (IL)-12, IL-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-a). In ulcerative colitis, a TH2 T-cell response appears to be the pathological process responsible for the inflammatory disease. New and innovative therapeutic strategies targeting cytokines, such as TNF-α, are producing some promising results in animal and human studies. As more is learned about the complex cyto-kine interactions in IBD, more effective treatments will undoubt-edly ensue. (Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition 23:S20