infliximab

Overview

Infliximab is a therapeutic monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. It is best known as an anti-TNFα biologic, meaning it binds tumor necrosis factor alpha and helps suppress downstream inflammatory signaling. Clinically, this mechanism has made infliximab an important therapy in conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and other chronic inflammatory disorders in which TNF-driven immune activation contributes to tissue damage.

Because infliximab modulates a central inflammatory pathway, it is also a useful reference drug in translational research on biologic efficacy, safety, biosimilar switching, and mechanisms of treatment resistance. Recent studies have continued to use infliximab as a comparator, a treatment intervention, or a mechanistic benchmark alongside other biologics such as adalimumab, etanercept, ixekizumab, risankizumab, and ustekinumab.

Focus of Latest Publications

Recent publications on infliximab have focused on its use in inflammatory bowel disease, central nervous system tuberculosis, and mechanistic or formulation-related contexts. In pediatric inflammatory bowel disease, a narrative review highlighted infliximab as one of only three advanced therapies currently approved for children, while emphasizing that much of the evidence base still relies on extrapolation from adult studies and that real-world evidence is needed to better define benefit-risk balance, including serious infection risk. A retrospective cohort study also set out to compare the risk of heart failure in patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with infliximab versus adalimumab, reflecting ongoing interest in comparative cardiac safety among anti-TNF agents.

Several studies examined infliximab in relation to treatment switching, biosimilar use, and disease control. A population-based study from British Columbia evaluated the longer-term impact of mandatory non-medical switching policies on infliximab and adalimumab biosimilar utilization and on continuation or discontinuation patterns in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In a separate case report, infliximab was associated with healing of a refractory ileocecal ulcer in Crohn’s disease after failure of adalimumab and risankizumab, with improvement linked to changes in mucosal claudin mRNA expression, suggesting a possible role in restoring barrier integrity.

Infliximab has also been studied outside gastrointestinal disease. A retrospective cohort study in severe central nervous system tuberculosis evaluated low-dose infliximab at 5 mg/kg as adjunctive therapy in 20 patients; at 3 months, 60% achieved disability-free survival and 75% showed clinically meaningful improvement, with outcomes reported as comparable to prior high-dose infliximab reports. The authors noted that randomized trials are needed to optimize dosing.

In a formulation-focused biophysical study, infliximab was included among therapeutic monoclonal antibodies assessed by dynamic light scattering to rapidly estimate oligomerization states in formulation. The resulting hydrodynamic molecular weight values for infliximab were several-fold greater than its monomeric molecular weight, indicating oligomerization, and the observed state was largely consistent with prior literature. This work proposed a rapid, non-invasive method for assessing protein oligomerization in therapeutic formulations.

Key Publications

NEWJun Simple Hydrodynamic Molecular Weight Model for Rapid Assessment of Therapeutic Protein Oligomerization States in Formulation. (The AAPS journal, 2026, PMID 42373916): "The resulting MWhd values were several-fold greater than the corresponding monomeric MW of the glucagon-like peptide-1/2 (GLP-1/2) analogs, insulin analogs, and the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) infliximab and bevacizumab, indicating varying degrees of oligomerization."
NEWJun Benefit-risk balance of advanced therapies in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease: evidence and gaps versus adults. (Inflammatory bowel diseases, 2026, PMID 42334183): "For now, only infliximab, adalimumab, and ustekinumab are approved for the treatment of children with IBD."
NEWApr Comparing the risk of heart failure in patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with infliximab versus adalimumab: a retrospective cohort study using a national database. (Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), 2026, PMID 42269048): "Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents are widely used for inflammatory bowel disease and have well-documented heart failure risk, but comparative cardiac safety remains uncertain."
Jun The Longer-Term Impact of Biosimilar Switching Policies in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease in British Columbia, Canada: A Retrospective, Population-Based Study. (Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2026, PMID 42157439): "...the longer-term infliximab and adalimumab biosimilar utilization and patterns of continuation/discontinuation of biosimilars."
May A novel insulin-like growth factor II-based masking domain for conditional activation of therapeutic antibodies. (mAbs, 2026, PMID 42093183): "In vivo, an MMP2/9-cleavable masked anti-TNFα antibody retained efficacy comparable to adalimumab and infliximab in a collagen antibody-induced arthritis model, yet, unlike the reference antibodies, did not measurably reduce survival in a Listeria monocytogenes infection challenge model at the dose tested."
May Role of Low-Dose Infliximab for Inflammatory Complications of Central Nervous System Tuberculosis: A Retrospective Cohort Study. (Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2026, PMID 41856917): "We evaluated low-dose infliximab (5 mg/kg) as adjunctive therapy in 20 patients with severe central nervous system tuberculosis."
May Luteolin, a bioactive compound from Celastrus orbiculatus stem, inhibits cervical cancer via CA2 suppression: A translational study bridging basic research and clinical application. (Journal of ethnopharmacology, 2026, PMID 41651043): "Luteolin, a bioactive compound from Celastrus orbiculatus stem, inhibits cervical cancer via CA2 suppression: A translational study bridging basic research and clinical application."
Jun Possible Involvement of the Mucosal Claudin Expression in the Healing of a Refractory Ileocecal Ulcer in a Patient with Crohn's Disease Successfully Treated with Infliximab. (Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan), 2025, PMID 41260649): "Treatment with infliximab improved refractory ulcers, and this effect was associated with alterations in the mucosal mRNA expression of claudins, cell-cell adhesion molecules that contribute to the maintenance of barrier integrity."