Introduction: 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.
Material and methods: 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.
Results: 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).
Conclusions: We suggest that modulation of vascular proliferation can be a novel option to increase the efficacy of biological therapy in CD.
Keywords: CD31; Crohn’s disease; IHC; VEGF; angiogenesis; anti-TNF therapy.