Dear Dr.  Blumenstein, 

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Kind regards,

Vipula Rasanga Bataduwaarachchi, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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“Alica Kubesch was funded by the Bundesministerium  für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt (BMFTR, Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space) ‒ 01EO2102 INITIALISE Advanced Clinician Scientist Program.”

Please state what role the funders took in the study.  If the funders had no role, please state: "The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript."

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Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??>

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: While the retrospective study is acknowledged, the inclusion criterion of “≥3 infusions” requires further clarification.

Clinical remission was indicated by SCCAI ≤4 and biochemical remission by FC ≤250 µg/g. No endoscopic remission data was included. Even in retrospective settings, lack of endoscopic correlation limits clinical value; this should be addressed in the debate.

The statistical models (mixed effects logistic regression, median regression) are appropriate, however the paper might benefit from more justification and how patient-level random effects were included.

Reviewer #2: Greetings

The subiect of this manuscript is important, this study provided real-world data on anti-IL-23 treatment

with mirikizumab in a UC cohort who had extensive therapeutic experience, with more than

one-third of them having been exposed to ≥3 advanced treatment lines. But dear authors kindly note the minor points and edit them.

Minor points,

1. In this manuscript, the pronoun "Our" (15 times) was used. In scientific writing, it is better to avoid the pronouns. Please replace them with formal scientific expressions such as "This study," "The present study," or "The current study."

2.Several references [ 5,6,17,18 and 19] are old. Please try to cite more recent references.

3- Kindly I suggest to add conclusion section after the discussion section.

Kind regards

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Sequencing Therapy for Optimal Response in Mirikizumab (STORM)-Study: A Tertiary Referral Center Study on Patients with Therapy-Refractory Ulcerative Colitis

PONE-D-25-43407R1

Dear Dr. Blumenstein,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Vipula Rasanga Bataduwaarachchi, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE