2002 Volume 120 Issue 1 Pages 39-45
Crohn's disease(CD) affects more than 400,000 individuals in the United States and more than 18,000 in Japan. Its incidence is CD, one of the chronic inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD), is debilitating disorder of unknown ethiology, characterized by a marked accumulation of activated T cells and monocytes/macrophages in the inflamed mucosa. Various proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, INF-γ, IL-6, IL-12, and IL-18, might be involved in its pathogenesis. In this review, we describe the role of various cytokines in the development of CD and the new therapeutic trials modulating cytokine networks for the treatment of CD.
