Towards personalized care in IBD

The expanding knowledge of the role of genetic variants involved in the susceptibility to IBD heralds an era of disease categorization beyond Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. A more robust molecular definition of the spectrum of IBD subtypes is likely to be based on specific molecular pathways that determine not only disease susceptibility but also disease characteristics such as location, natural history and therapeutic response. Evolving diagnostic panels for IBD will include clinical variables and genetic markers as well as other indicators of gene function and interaction with environmental factors, such as the microbiome. Multimodal algorithms that combine clinical, serologic and genetic information are likely to be useful in predicting disease course. Variation in IBD-susceptibility and drug-related pathway genes seems to influence the response to anti-TNF therapy. Furthermore, gene expression signatures and composite models have both shown promise as predictors of therapeutic response. Ultimately, models based on combinations of genotype and gene expression data with clinical, biochemical, serological, and microbiome data for clinically meaningful subgroups of patients should permit the development of tools for individualized risk stratification and treatment selection.