Injections of Antibodies Show Promise Against Crohn’s Disease

Injections of an antibody that targets a natural human protein are showing promise in hard-to-treat cases of Crohn’s disease, a chronic digestive illness.

The treatment involves injections of an antibody called cA2. It neutralizes a protein known as tumor necrosis factor that is believed to play a role in causing Crohn’s disease.

The study is published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.

The treatment, which has not been approved for routine use, was developed by Centocor Inc. of Malvern, Pa. The company financed the study, which was conducted on 108 patients by Dr. Stephen R. Targan and colleagues from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Crohn’s disease is an inflammation of the digestive tract. Symptoms can include diarrhea, pain, fever and weight loss. Some patients need surgery to remove damaged parts of their intestines.

All of the patients in the study had moderate to severe cases of the disease and failed to respond to standard medicines.

A month after treatment, two-thirds of patients receiving cA2 showed considerable improvement, and half of those who improved got so much better that doctors considered them to be in remission. After three months, the effects had begun to wear off, but 41% of the patients were still significantly better.