Yang QH, Zhang CN. Comparative study on the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. World J Gastroenterol 2025; 31(19): 106406 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i19.106406]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Chuang-Nian Zhang, Senior Researcher, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Engineering Research Center of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Technology and Device (Ministry of Education), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biomaterial Research, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin Institutes of Health Science, No. 236 Baidi Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300192, China. cnzhang@mail.nankai.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. May 21, 2025; 31(19): 106406 Published online May 21, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i19.106406
Comparative study on the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
Qi-Hang Yang, Chuang-Nian Zhang
Qi-Hang Yang, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin 300192, China
Qi-Hang Yang, University College London, Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
Chuang-Nian Zhang, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Engineering Research Center of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Technology and Device (Ministry of Education), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biomaterial Research, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin Institutes of Health Science, Tianjin 300192, China
Author contributions: Yang QH and Zhang CN made substantial contributions to the article; Yang QH performed the literature research and drafted the manuscript; Zhang CN provided critical input on the intellectual content, and reviewed and revised this manuscript; All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission Grant, No. 24ZXRKSY00010; and Program for Innovative Research Team in Peking Union Medical College, CAMS Initiative for Innovative Medicine, No. 2023-I2M-2-008.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Chuang-Nian Zhang, Senior Researcher, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, Engineering Research Center of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Technology and Device (Ministry of Education), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biomaterial Research, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin Institutes of Health Science, No. 236 Baidi Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300192, China. cnzhang@mail.nankai.edu.cn
Received: February 26, 2025 Revised: March 25, 2025 Accepted: April 25, 2025 Published online: May 21, 2025 Processing time: 85 Days and 4.8 Hours
Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an incurable disease of the digestive system; however, the therapeutic methods for IBD remain limited. The pathogenesis of IBD was systematically discussed and compared in this paper, primarily comprising Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This paper focused on six common aspects: (1) Dysregulated immune responses; (2) Gene function changes; (3) Intestinal microbes disorder and imbalance; (4) Microbial infections; (5) Associations between IBD and other inflammatory diseases; and (6) Other factors. In addition, the pathogenesis differences between these two forms of IBD were unraveled and clearly distinguished. These unique aspects of pathogenesis provide crucial insights for the precise treatment of both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This paper illustrates the root causes and beneficial factors of resistance to IBD, which provides novel insights on early prevention, development of new therapeutic agents, and treatment options of this disease.
Core Tip: Six common and fourteen unique aspects of the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease, primarily Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, illustrate the causes and beneficial factors of resistance to inflammatory bowel disease, providing critical insights for the targeted treatment of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Utilizing the main contents of this paper allows for the development of comprehensive interventions that reduce harmful influences, enhance protective factors and use an integrative approach to address the diseases for the benefit of the human being.
