Frontiers | Serum Biomarkers for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

IntroductionInflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a lifelong disease with symptoms that tend to wax and wane and frequent exacerbations. The incidence of IBD is increasing steadily and has become an important public health issue in Western countries and newly industrialized countries (1). Our group reported that 32.9% of patients with CD eventually become disabled by the disease (2). Between 5 and 15% of UC patients required colectomy, and 80% of CD patients need at least one operation in their lifetime, which markedly affects quality of life (3). The key to improve the prognosis of patients with IBD is strict and effective management.After IBD is diagnosed, determination of the subclassification of IBD is sometimes difficult (4). It is also a challenge to differentiate between IBD and colitis of other etiologies. An inaccurate diagnosis can have an adverse impact on treatment effectiveness and future management. Treatment deci...