Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes

Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis (ASUC) is a well-known and potentially fatal disease state, characterized by symptoms of systemic toxicity including fever, severe anemia, elevated inflammatory markers, and autonomic instability. The life-threatening nature of this condition requires clinicians to ma...

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Main Authors: Shruthi Karthikeyan, Chetan Ambastha, Kian Keyashian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Gastroenterology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgstr.2024.1488288/full
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author Shruthi Karthikeyan
Chetan Ambastha
Kian Keyashian
author_facet Shruthi Karthikeyan
Chetan Ambastha
Kian Keyashian
author_sort Shruthi Karthikeyan
collection DOAJ
description Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis (ASUC) is a well-known and potentially fatal disease state, characterized by symptoms of systemic toxicity including fever, severe anemia, elevated inflammatory markers, and autonomic instability. The life-threatening nature of this condition requires clinicians to make prompt diagnoses and take rapid action, either directing patients towards surgical interventions or medical management. Failure to treat ASUC may lead to toxic dilation of the colon, hemorrhage, or sepsis. Current algorithms suggest the use of intravenous (IV) corticosteroids upon diagnosis, with transition to oral corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors or tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors upon reduction of severe symptoms for candidates deemed to be amenable to medical management. Within these classes, TNF inhibitors such as Infliximab (IFX) have proven to be the most safe, efficacious, and tolerable for patients. While IFX has much data supporting its benefits in achieving short term remission, there are still high rates of long-term need for colectomy and failure to maintain remission. This is due to interactions between the inflamed gastrointestinal tract, the increased metabolic activity seen in ASUC, and intrinsic pharmacodynamic properties of IFX. Certain novel studies suggest that Janus Kinase (JAK-STAT) inhibitors such as Tofacitinib and Upadacitinib are potent agents to salvage clinical remission achieved by IFX, upon its failure. Here we discuss methods to optimize the dosing of IFX to maximize its efficacy, while exploring recent work done on the safety and efficacy of JAK-STAT inhibitors as a salvage therapy, therefore suggesting a novel treatment algorithm to improve clinical outcomes in medically managed ASUC patients.
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spelling doaj-art-02b4afb7de0d43f5a6626a96e62ea3bb2025-08-20T02:23:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Gastroenterology2813-11692024-11-01310.3389/fgstr.2024.14882881488288Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomesShruthi Karthikeyan0Chetan Ambastha1Kian Keyashian2School of Medicine, St. George’s University, St. George’s, GrenadaDepartment of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United StatesDivision of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United StatesAcute Severe Ulcerative Colitis (ASUC) is a well-known and potentially fatal disease state, characterized by symptoms of systemic toxicity including fever, severe anemia, elevated inflammatory markers, and autonomic instability. The life-threatening nature of this condition requires clinicians to make prompt diagnoses and take rapid action, either directing patients towards surgical interventions or medical management. Failure to treat ASUC may lead to toxic dilation of the colon, hemorrhage, or sepsis. Current algorithms suggest the use of intravenous (IV) corticosteroids upon diagnosis, with transition to oral corticosteroids, calcineurin inhibitors or tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors upon reduction of severe symptoms for candidates deemed to be amenable to medical management. Within these classes, TNF inhibitors such as Infliximab (IFX) have proven to be the most safe, efficacious, and tolerable for patients. While IFX has much data supporting its benefits in achieving short term remission, there are still high rates of long-term need for colectomy and failure to maintain remission. This is due to interactions between the inflamed gastrointestinal tract, the increased metabolic activity seen in ASUC, and intrinsic pharmacodynamic properties of IFX. Certain novel studies suggest that Janus Kinase (JAK-STAT) inhibitors such as Tofacitinib and Upadacitinib are potent agents to salvage clinical remission achieved by IFX, upon its failure. Here we discuss methods to optimize the dosing of IFX to maximize its efficacy, while exploring recent work done on the safety and efficacy of JAK-STAT inhibitors as a salvage therapy, therefore suggesting a novel treatment algorithm to improve clinical outcomes in medically managed ASUC patients.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgstr.2024.1488288/fullacute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC)infliximab (IFX)salvage therapiesJAK inhibitorstofacitinibupadacitinib
spellingShingle Shruthi Karthikeyan
Chetan Ambastha
Kian Keyashian
Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes
Frontiers in Gastroenterology
acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC)
infliximab (IFX)
salvage therapies
JAK inhibitors
tofacitinib
upadacitinib
title Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes
title_full Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes
title_fullStr Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes
title_full_unstemmed Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes
title_short Acute severe ulcerative colitis: using JAK-STAT inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes
title_sort acute severe ulcerative colitis using jak stat inhibitors for improved clinical outcomes
topic acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC)
infliximab (IFX)
salvage therapies
JAK inhibitors
tofacitinib
upadacitinib
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgstr.2024.1488288/full
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AT kiankeyashian acutesevereulcerativecolitisusingjakstatinhibitorsforimprovedclinicaloutcomes