Interleukin 13-mediated colitis in the absence of IL-4R{alpha} signalling

Sufficient evidence points to interleukin 13 (IL-13) as an important pathological factor in UC and raises hopes to a promising new treatment strategy.1–3 However, the outcomes of two recent clinical trials, both published in Gut 2015, suggest otherwise.4 5 A commentary published in the same issue described these results as crushing the enthusiasm for anti-IL-13 treatment in UC.6 In this letter, we show evidence that the disease outcome is determined by the type of signalling pathway used by IL-13 in mice. Therefore, we suggest that directly blocking IL-13 remains a potential treatment strategy for a subset of patients with UC that have elevated tissue IL-13 production.

In the first clinical study using anrukinzumab treatment, which targets the IL-4 receptor-alpha (IL-4Rα) and not IL-13 directly, had no effect on improving the clinical response or remission rates of patients...