Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4): A key player in inflammatory bowel disease and potential to inspire epigenetic therapeutics.

As a novel therapeutic strategy, targeting BRD4 with potent and specific inhibitors may offer effective therapeutics for IBD patients, particularly those who are refractory to anti-TNFα therapy and IBD-related profibrotic. Developing highly specific BRD4 inhibitors for IBD medications is urgently needed, which may help erase the drawbacks of most current non-specific BET/BRD4 inhibitors, such as off-target effects, poor oral bioavailability, and low gut mucosal absorbance. BRD4-based novel strategies such as combinatorial therapy, dual inhibitors and proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) may also have great potential to be applied for IBD treatment in the future, which may help mitigate side effects and overcome drug resistance.