Vol. 1 No. 2 (2025), Original Article
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2025)

Efficacy and Safety of Tofacitinib in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Patients: A Systematic Review

Original Article
Published 2025-04-21
Abdelaziz A. Awad
Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Mohamed A. Aldemerdash
Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt. image/svg+xml
Ahmed Aldemerdash
Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt. image/svg+xml
Esraa Awad
Internal Medicine Department, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt. image/svg+xml
Salma Allam
Faculty of Medicine, Galala University, Suez, Egypt. image/svg+xml
Ahmed L. Youseif
Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Damietta, Egypt. image/svg+xml
Alshimaa M. Abu alabbas
Faculty of Pharmacy, Egypt Japan University of Science and Technology, Alexandria, Egypt. image/svg+xml
Nermin Elhossiny
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, St Mary General Hospital, Passaic, NJ, USA. image/svg+xml
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6512-387X
Hazem Abosheaishaa
Internal Medicine Department, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai / NYC Health + Hospitals Queens, New York, NY, USA. image/svg+xml
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5581-8702
ASIDE GI Issue 2
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Keywords

Inflammatory bowel disease
Ulcerative colitis
Crohn's disease
Tofacitinib
Janus kinase

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1.
Awad AA, Mohamed A. Aldemerdash, Ahmed Aldemerdash, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Tofacitinib in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Patients: A Systematic Review. ASIDE GI. 2025;1(2):4-9. doi:10.71079/ASIDE.GI.04212519
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Abstract

Introduction: Ulcerative colitis (UC), an inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), is a chronic illness of unknown mechanism affecting the colonic mucosa, mainly causing diarrhea and bleeding. It can potentially disrupt the quality of life. Tofacitinib, a Janus Kinase inhibitor, showed a promising effect in inducing remission in IBD patients. In this study, we aim to assess the efficacy and safety of Tofacitinib in treating children with ulcerative colitis.

Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA), we searched four electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science) to identify eligible studies reported up to July 2024. We reported outcomes as frequencies and proportions in our study.

Results: We identified five studies encompassing 83 children diagnosed with IBD, of which 57 children had ulcerative colitis. The proportion of patients achieving a clinical response across one included study was 66.67%. The proportion of patients achieving clinical remission was 38.46%. Also, the proportion of patients achieving steroid-free remission across the three studies was 48.57%. The rate for serious adverse events was 25.53% across the three included studies.

Conclusion: Tofacitinib could be useful in achieving clinical remission in children with UC and reducing colectomy rates. Also, a low infection rate and the incidence of serious adverse events were observed. Future randomized controlled trials with larger samples and longer follow-up periods are needed to support these findings.

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Supplementary File

References

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