Review for 10.1186/s12876-020-01447-0 (2020)

Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Discovery and validation of mucosal TNF expression combined with histological score - a 
biomarker for personalized treatment in ulcerative colitis  
 
Version: 0 Date: 10 Aug 2020  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
This i s an interesting manuscript, as part of a more vast ongoing research into prognostic factors 
in UC. Clearly, it is desirable that prognostic factors can be identified early in the disease, that may 
be useful to tailor the best treatment for optimised outco me. It is not surprising that higher 
inflammatory activity as assessed by TNF and histology may provide an indication of more severe 
outcome.  
The manuscript is not very clear in the different process handling of the calibration and validation 
cohorts.  
It is of interest that the authors did not address the extension of the disease into the algorithm. Do 
they thinnk this is irrelevant for prognosis?  
Despite a high specificy, the proposed combination (TNF RHI) seems to have a rather low 
sensitivity. The au thors rightly mention that topd down strategy seem sto have a relevant role in 
Crohn's disease, but this is much less obvious in UC, which are the topic of this study.  
This study is an interesting contribution into the identification of predictive tools t o use at 
diagnosis, but it still remains to be proven that the use of this score may help in the later outcome 
of the disease by adaption of treatment.  
 
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Declaration of competing interests  
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (i ncluding the use of appropriate 
controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence presented?  
 
Yes 
 
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?  
 
Yes 
 
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?  
 
Yes 
 
Is the presentation of the work clear?  
 
Yes 
 
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gel s and blots) free from apparent 
manipulation?  
 
Yes