Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease （IBD） is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestinal tract that causes diarrhea, bloody stools, and other symptoms. Types of IBD include ulcerative colitis （UC） and Crohn’s disease （CD）. The number of IBD patients is increasing worldwide, with about 220,000 people suffering from UC and 70,000 from CD in Japan. Various drugs are available to treat IBD, depending on the severity of the disease, including 5-aminosalicylic acid （5-ASA）, steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and large-molecule drugs such as anti-TNF-α antibodies. However, antibody drugs are more expensive than small-molecule drugs, and over time they lose their therapeutic capacity, which can lead to the need for increased dosing or modification of the therapeutic strategy. Consequently, there is a need for the development of drugs for IBD based on new mechanisms of action. This paper presents an example of research into the development of IBD therapeutics targeting the retinoid X receptor.
