Novel Strategies in the Thiopurine Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Thiopurine drugs are widely used as immunomodulatory and corticosteroid-sparing agents in inflammatory bowel disease. Despite being old drugs, a renewed research and clinical interest in their application has emerged during the last decade. The application of pharmacogenetic insights and metabolic monitoring, together with treatment strategies in combination with anti-TNFα-antibodies and possibilities to modulate their metabolism, has paved the way to a “modern” use of the thiopurines. These aspects are briefly overviewed herein.

Keywords:

• Thiopurines
• inflammatory bowel disease
• Crohn's disease
• ulcerative colitis
• treatment strategies

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the crucial contributions of Ulf Hindorf, University of Lund, of Sofie Haglund, Malin Lindqvist, Svante Vikingsson, Curt Peterson, and Lena Svensson, all at Linköping University, in obtaining the results from our study group presented in this overview. Study grants have been obtained from: The Research Council in the Southeast of Sweden (FORSS), The Swedish Society of Medicine, Rut och Richard Juhlins stiftelse, ALF Grants, County Council of Östergötland, Futurum—The Academy of Healthcare, County Council of Jönköping, The Swedish Cancer Society, The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation, and The Swedish Research Council.