Project description:Crohn's Disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestinal tract. We performed a whole-genome transcriptional analysis using colonic biopsies from CD patients before and after anti-TNF-α therapy. Involved colonic samples from Crohn's disease patients and healthy colonic samples from non-inflammatory controls were collected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Inclusion criteria for CD patients were: age between 18 and 70, diagnosis of CD established at least 4 months before inclusion and exclusion of concomitant infection. Active disease was defined by endoscopic and clinical score: endoscopic active disease was defined as a CD endoscopic index of severity (CDEIS) of 5 or more and the presence of large ulcers (> 0.5 cm diameter) in at least one of the explored segments. Clinical activity was defined as a CD activity index (CDAI) above 150. Finally, a total of 39 biopsies were analyzed: 17 healthy controls, 10 active CD without anti-TNF therapy, 5 active CD with anti-TNF therapy (non-responders) and 7 inactive CD with anti-TNF therapy (responders).