Efficacy of IL-23 inhibitors and IL-12/23 inhibitors in the induction treatment of Crohn’s disease: A meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials

Introduction:
A growing number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated the effectiveness of interleukin (IL)-23 and IL-12/23 inhibitors in treating Crohn’s disease (CD). This study evaluated the efficacy of IL-23 and IL-12/23 inhibitors in the induction phase for the treatment of CD.

Material and methods:
We searched the following databases from inception until December, 2022: Medline, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library. The primary outcome was the proportion of CD patients who achieved clinical remission at the end of the induction therapy period. Secondary outcomes included clinical response, endoscopic remission, endoscopic response and normalized C-reactive protein (CRP).

Results:
After screening, 7 RCTs were included in our study. The meta-analysis showed that, in the induction period, more patients treated with IL-23 inhibitors and IL-12/23 inhibitors achieved clinical remission than patients with placebo therapy (RR = 2.11, 95% CI: 1.83-2.44; RR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.64-2.29; respectively). The IL-23 inhibitor group and the IL-12/23 inhibitor group showed higher clinical response rates than the placebo group (RR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.74-2,11; RR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.61-2.09; respectively). In addition, the IL-23 inhibitor group had a higher endoscopic remission rate and endoscopic response rate than the placebo group; the corresponding pooled RRs were 3.40 (95% CI:2.57-4.50) and 2.65 (95% CI: 2.65-3.12), respectively.

Conclusions:
IL-23 and IL-12/23 inhibitors were efficient methods in the induction treatment of CD.