Overview of biological treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases with a focus on TNF-α inhibitors

Abstract

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic, inflammatory bowel diseases medically and surgically incurable. In the last 20 years, there has been a dramatic development, especially of medicamentous treatment.

In biological therapy, new agents have been introduced with a mechanism of action targeted on molecules with key role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Keywords

• inflammatory bowel diseases
• Crohn’s disease
• ulcerative colitis
• drug treatment
• biological therapy
• anti-TNF-α
• TDM
• antibodies