Anti-TNF-alpha Treatment Reduces the Baseline Procoagulant Imbalance of Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are characterized by an increased thrombosis risk of uncertain etiology. Coagulation derangement arising from inflammation may be a triggering factor. We hypothesized that strong inflammation inhibitors (eg, anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha drugs) may affect coagulation. Methods: Forty patients with IBD were compared with 57 control patients for coagulation factors and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP), the latter being the most sensitive marker of in vivo pro- and anticoagulation balance. We measured ETP in the presence and absence of thrombomodulin (the physiologic protein C [PC] activator). Coagulation at different timepoints was also assessed for 28 of these patients during infliximab treatment. Results: The median ETP (nM thrombin x minutes) and range (minimum-maximum) were each higher in patients at baseline than in control patients in both the absence (2120 [1611-3041] vs 1865 [1270-2337]) and the presence (1453 [464-2522] vs 831 [104-1741]) of thrombomodulin. The ETP ratio (with/without thrombomodulin) was high at baseline (0.73 [0.21-0.90] vs 0.45 [0.07-0.85]). The ETP and ETP ratio declined during treatment and were significantly lower at the end than at baseline. Factor (F) VIII and fibrinogen, which were high at baseline, decreased during treatment and at the end were significantly lower than at baseline. The FVIII/PC ratio, which was high in patients at baseline, declined during treatment and at the end was lower than at baseline. C-reactive protein recorded at the end of treatment was lower than at baseline. Conclusions: Patients with IBD have a procoagulant imbalance as shown by increased ETP at baseline. The ETP decreases during treatment with infliximab, which is related to decreased FVIII and FVIII/PC ratio. This effect is also related to the improvement of inflammation as shown by decreased fibrinogen and C-reactive protein.