Open AccessMethotrexate for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - New Developments
Author(s) -
Hans Herfarth
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
digestive diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.879
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1421-9875
pISSN - 0257-2753
DOI - 10.1159/000443129
Subject(s) - medicine , methotrexate , inflammatory bowel disease , ulcerative colitis , crohn's disease , drug , disease , inflammatory bowel diseases , immunology , gastroenterology , pharmacology
Methotrexate (MTX) is an established therapy for patients with steroid-dependent Crohn's disease (CD). MTX is also frequently used in combination with anti-TNF agents to suppress anti-drug antibody formation. It has been suggested in the past that MTX lacks any clinical effectiveness in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC); however, newer data at least partially contradict this assumption. The following review will discuss recent data for the use of MTX in CD, UC and in combination with anti-TNF agents.