Proteomics for prediction and characterization of response to infliximab in Crohnʹs disease: A pilot study

Objectives Infliximab is the first anti-TNFα accepted by the Food and Drug Administration for use in inflammatory bowel disease treatment. Few clinical, biological and genetic factors tend to predict response in Crohnʹs disease (CD) patient subcategories, none widely predicting response to infliximab. Design and methods Twenty CD patients showing clinical response or non response to infliximab were used for serum proteomic profiling on Surface Enhanced Lazer Desorption Ionisation-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS), each before and after treatment. Univariate and multivariate data analysis were performed for prediction and characterization of response to infliximab. Results We obtained a model of classification predicting response to treatment and selected relevant potential biomarkers, among which platelet aggregation factor 4 (PF4). We quantified PF4, sCD40L and IL-6 by ELISA for correlation studies. Conclusions This first proteomic pilot study on response to infliximab in CD suggests association between platelet metabolism and response to infliximab and requires validation studies on a larger cohort of patients.