A higher percentage of intraabdominal visceral adipose tissue (IA-VAT) independently correlated with worse outcomes for certain biologic drugs among patients with IBD, according to findings published in Gastroenterology. Andres J. Yarur, MD, and colleagues examined the use of three different biologic agents among 141 patients with IBD. Patients with a higher IA-VAT percentage were less likely to achieve corticosteroid-free deep remission (P<0.001) or endoscopic remission (P=0.02) versus those with a lower IA-VAT percentage. Nonresponders with a higher IA-VAT percentage also had significantly higher serum IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor levels at baseline versus responders and those with a low IA-VAT percentage. However, drug pharmacokinetics and microbiota diversity were comparable among patients in the high and low IA-VAT percentage groups. The association may partly be driven by distinct differences in inflammatory cytokine expression, according to the researchers. “We need to investigate drugs with different mechanisms of action, especially other small molecules, to see if our findings hold,” Dr. Yarur noted in a statement.
