Immune-mediated angiogenesis may play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory lesions in Crohn's disease (CD). The study aimed to assess the influence of anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy on the angiogenesis in relation to microscopic and endoscopic healing in CD patients.
Colonic tissue samples from 17 CD patients were taken during colonoscopy before and after anti-TNF therapy. Endoscopic and microscopic severities were estimated using validated scores. Immunohistochemical expression of CD31 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were assessed in parallel.
The expression of CD31 and VEGF decreased significantly after the anti-TNF therapy in parallel to endoscopic improvement; however, the microscopic activity did not change significantly. There was a correlation between the change in CD31 and VEGF expression (p = 0.01; r = 0.6), as well as endoscopic healing (p = 0.04; r = 0.4). CD31 immunoexpression correlated with the number of poly- and mononuclear cells in the infiltrates in the mucosal lamina propria before the therapy (p = 0.02; r = 0.5).
We suggest that modulation of vascular proliferation can be a novel option to increase the efficacy of biological therapy in CD.