Hjortebjerg R, et al. - Through a study carried out on 38 patients with active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the researchers intended to explain the distinct metabolic effects of prednisolone and infliximab by hypothetically assuming that prednisolone and infliximab exert different effects on levels of stanniocalcin-2 (STC2), pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A), and IGF binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4). Circulating levels of growth factor I (IGF-I), IGF-II, IGFBP-3, PAPP-A, and STC2 were measured by immunoassays. In patients with IBD, near-normalized with disease remission, altered concentrations of IGF-I and IGFBP-4 following treatment with prednisolone or infliximab were noted. Immunosuppression effects on extending beyond the regulation of IGF didn't significantly appear and IGFBP-4 wasn't discernibly affected neither as PAPP-A nor as STC2.