The Combination of Patient Profiling and Preclinical Studies in a Mouse Model Based on NOD/Scid IL2Rγ null Mice Reconstituted With Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells From Patients With Ulcerative Colitis May Lead to Stratification of Patients for Treatment With Adalimumab.

Background: To date, responsiveness to tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitors in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients is not predictable. This is partially due to a lack of understanding of the underlying inflammatory processes. The aim of this study was to identify immunological subgroups of patients with UC and to test responsiveness to adalimumab in these subgroups in the mouse model of ulcerative colitis (UC), which is based on NOD/scid IL-2Rγ null (NSG) mice reconstituted with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs; NSG-UC).

Targeting ulcerative colitis by suppressing glucose uptake with ritonavir.

Glucose is the preferred source of energy in activated inflammatory cells. Glucose uptake into the cell is ensured by a family of glucose uptake transporters (GLUTs), which have been identified as off-target molecules of the HIV protease inhibitor ritonavir. In this study, we examined the effect of ritonavir on inflammation and Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were activated with anti-CD3 in the presence or absence of ritonavir and analyzed by flow cytometric analysis.