medRxiv
Cure8 research brief
Why This Matters
If confirmed, a pretreatment mucosal JAK‑dependent inflammatory signature could help predict who will respond to tofacitinib, potentially guiding therapy choice and avoiding ineffective treatment for people with ulcerative colitis.
Who Should Pay Attention
Clinicians treating UC, researchers studying biologic and small‑molecule response biomarkers, and patients considering or on tofacitinib treatment.
Study Snapshot
Story typeResearch paper
Evidence typePreprint
Study statusPreprint
Source depthJournal abstract
What To Know
This preprint reports a prospective open‑label multi-omics study of tofacitinib in moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Patients received tofacitinib 10 mg twice daily for eight weeks with mucosal biopsies, peripheral blood RNA‑seq, and serum proteomics collected at baseline and week 8.
About 38% met the study’s histo‑endoscopic mucosal improvement endpoint at week 8.
The main finding is that patients who responded had a pre‑existing mucosal inflammatory program — including interferon, IL‑6 family, IL‑2/common‑γ, T‑cell receptor and JAK‑STAT pathway activation — that declined on treatment, whereas non‑responders lacked this JAK‑tractable mucosal signature.
Proteomic and transcriptomic changes were concordant in responders, and some tofacitinib effects (non‑canonical NF‑κB downregulation) appeared specific compared with published infliximab data. This is an abstract‑level preprint (medRxiv).
It suggests a pretreatment mucosal biomarker profile might predict short‑term response to tofacitinib, but findings are preliminary and need peer review, replication, and validation in independent cohorts before clinical use.
Keep In Mind
This is a preprint (not yet peer reviewed) and reports an 8‑week open‑label study with proteomic and transcriptomic analyses. The findings are hypothesis‑generating and require independent validation before being applied clinically.
Source Details
Review the original publication for the complete reporting, methods, and context.
Preprint
Evidence type derived from source or registry metadata.
PublicationmedRxiv
AuthorsFung, I. C., de Jong, D. C., Liu, K. +10 more
Study typePublishaheadofprint
Indexed viamedRxiv
Source typePreprint
PublishedOct 8, 2026, 12:00 AM
Content availableJournal abstract
This Cure8 brief is based on source text from the linked article. Cure8 is informational only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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