Dose adjustments and discontinuation in TNF inhibitors treated patients: when and how. A systematic review of literature

Towards Personalized Medicine in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, incurable, multisystem, inflammatory disease characterized by synovitis and extra-articular features. Although several advanced therapies targeting inflammatory mechanisms underlying the disease are available, no advanced therapy is universally effective. Therefore, a ceiling of treatment response is currently accepted where no advanced therapy is superior to another. The current challenge for medical research is the discovery and integration of predictive markers of drug response that can be used to personalize medicine so that the patient is started on "the right drug at the right time". This review article summarizes our current understanding of predicting response to anti-rheumatic drugs in RA, obstacles impeding the development of personalized medicine approaches and future research priorities to overcome these barriers.

Prevalence and predictors of sustained remission/low disease activity after discontinuation of induction or maintenance treatment with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic and scoping review

BACKGROUND

To determine the prevalence of sustained remission/low disease activity (LDA) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after discontinuation of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi), separately in induction treatment and maintenance treatment studies, and to identify predictors of successful discontinuation.

METHODS

We performed a systematic literature review of studies published from 2005 to May 2022 that reported outcomes after TNFi discontinuation among patients in remission/LDA. We computed prevalences of successful discontinuation by induction or maintenance treatment, remission criterion, and follow-up time. We performed a scoping review of predictors of successful discontinuation.

RESULTS

Twenty-two induction-withdrawal studies were identified. In pooled analyses, 58% (95% confidence interval (CI) 45, 70) had DAS28 < 3.2 (9 studies), 52% (95% CI 35, 69) had DAS28 < 2.6 (9 studies), and 40% (95% CI 18, 64) had SDAI ≤ 3.3 (4 studies) at 37-52 weeks after discontinuation. Among patients who continued TNFi, 62 to 85% maintained remission. Twenty-two studies of maintenance treatment discontinuation were also identified. At 37-52 weeks after TNFi discontinuation, 48% (95% CI 38, 59) had DAS28 < 3.2 (10 studies), and 47% (95% CI 33, 62) had DAS28 < 2.6 (6 studies). Heterogeneity among studies was high. Data on predictors in induction-withdrawal studies were limited. In both treatment scenarios, longer duration of RA was most consistently associated with less successful discontinuation.

CONCLUSIONS

Approximately one-half of patients with RA remain in remission/LDA for up to 1 year after TNFi discontinuation, with slightly higher proportions in induction-withdrawal settings than with maintenance treatment discontinuation.

Tailored therapeutic decision of rheumatoid arthritis using proteomic strategies: how to start and when to stop?

Unpredictable treatment responses have been an obstacle for the successful management of rheumatoid arthritis. Although numerous serum proteins have been proposed, there is a lack of integrative survey to compare their relevance in predicting treatment outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis. Also, little is known about their applications in various treatment stages, such as dose modification, drug switching or withdrawal. Here we present an in-depth exploration of the potential usefulness of serum proteins in clinical decision-making and unveil the spectrum of immunopathology underlying responders to different drugs. Patients with robust autoimmunity and inflammation are more responsive to biological treatments and prone to relapse during treatment de-escalation. Moreover, the concentration changes of serum proteins at the beginning of the treatments possibly assist early recognition of treatment responders. With a better understanding of the relationship between the serum proteome and treatment responses, personalized medicine in rheumatoid arthritis will be more achievable in the near future.

Long-term outcomes after discontinuing biological drugs and tofacitinib in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A prospective cohort study

Objective

This study examined long-term outcomes of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) and tofacitinib discontinuation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods

Ninety-seven RA patients who desired drug discontinuation after sustained remission or low disease activity for at least 48 weeks due to stable treatment with biological drugs or tofacitinib were enrolled into this study. All patients were prospectively followed until disease flare or the end of the study. Discontinued drugs (previous drugs) were reintroduced to treat flares.

Results

Following bDMARD/tofacitinib discontinuation (mean follow-up, 2.1 years; standard deviation, 2.0), disease flare occurred at a crude incidence rate of 0.36 per person-year. The median time to flare was 1.6 years (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.9–2.6), and the cumulative flare probability was estimated to be 45% at 1 year, 64% at 3 years, and 80% at 5 years. No or little radiological progression was shown in 87.1% of patients who maintained remission for 3 years. A Fine‒Gray competing risk regression analysis showed that predictive factors for a flare were longer RA duration at the start of bDMARD/tofacitinib treatment, previous failure of treatment with bDMARDs, and a shorter period of remission or low disease activity before drug discontinuation. Type of discontinued drug was not identified as a predictive factor after adjusting for other predictor variables. Restarting previous treatment regimens led to rapidly regaining disease control in 89% of flare patients within 1 month.

Conclusion

Discontinuation of bDMARD/tofacitinib may be a feasible strategy in RA patients, especially patients with early treated and longer-controlled RA. Flares are manageable in most RA patients and radiological progression is rare for at least 3 years in patients with sustained remission after bDMARD/tofacitinib discontinuation.

De-escalation of Anti-tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Agents and Reduction in Adverse Effects: A Systematic Review

Background: The long-term use of anti-TNF-α agents can lead to adverse effects, such as infections and immune-mediated cutaneous reactions. Whether de-escalation by dose reduction or interval lengthening reduces these adverse effects is uncertain. This systematic review aims to compare the incidence of infections and skin manifestations after anti-TNF-α dose de-escalation with standard dosing. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to 14 January 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies comparing anti-TNF-α de-escalation strategies with standard dosing among patients with inflammatory conditions, that report on infections, skin manifestations, or both, were included. The risk of bias was assessed with the revised Cochrane risk-of bias tool (RCTs) or the Newcastle–Ottawa scale (non-RCTs). Results: Fourteen RCTs and six observational studies (or 2706 patients) were included. Eight RCTs had low risk of bias or some concerns. Four non-RCTs were of good methodological quality. The studies described patients with axial spondyloarthritis (8 studies, 780 patients), rheumatoid arthritis (7 studies, 1458 patients), psoriasis (3 studies, 332 patients), or inflammatory bowel disease (2 studies, 136 patients). De-escalation strategies included interval lengthening (12 studies, 1317 patients), dose reduction (6 studies, 1130 patients), or both (2 studies, 259 patients). Overall, the occurrence of infections and skin manifestations did not differ between standard treatment and de-escalation. The disappearance of infections or skin manifestations after de-escalation was only reported in two studies. The majority of studies focused on etanercept and adalimumab. Heterogeneity in reporting of infections and skin manifestations precluded meta-analysis. Conclusion: We found that anti-TNF-α de-escalation does not reduce infections or skin reactions. A de-escalation strategy should not be recommended for the sole purpose of reducing drug-related adverse effects. The meticulous documentation of adverse effects is recommended to further address this question. Registration: PROSPERO CRD42021252977.

Using real-world data to dynamically predict flares during tapering of biological DMARDs in rheumatoid arthritis: development, validation, and potential impact of prediction-aided decisions

Background

Biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) are effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. However, as bDMARDs may also lead to adverse events and are expensive, tapering them is of great clinical interest. Tapering according to disease activity-guided dose optimization (DGDO) does not seem to affect long term remission rates, but flares are frequent during this process. Our objective was to develop a model for the prediction of flares during bDMARD tapering using data from routine care and to evaluate its potential clinical impact.

Methods

We used a joint latent class model to repeatedly predict the probability of a flare occurring within the next 3 months. The model was developed using longitudinal data on disease activity (DAS28) and other routine care data from two clinics. Predictive accuracy was assessed in cross-validation and external validation was performed with data from the DRESS (Dose REduction Strategy of Subcutaneous tumor necrosis factor inhibitors) trial. Additionally, we simulated the reduction in number of flares and bDMARD dose when implementing the model as a decision aid during bDMARD tapering in the DRESS trial.

Results

Data from 279 bDMARD courses were used for model development. The final model included two latent DAS28-trajectories, bDMARD type and dose, disease duration, and seropositivity. The area under the curve of the final model was 0.76 (0.69–0.83) in cross-validation and 0.68 (0.62–0.73) in external validation. In simulation of prediction-aided decisions, the mean number of flares over 18 months decreased from 1.21 (0.99–1.43) to 0.75 (0.54–0.96). The reduction in he bDMARD dose was mostly maintained, increasing from 54 to 64% of full dose.

Conclusions

We developed a dynamic flare prediction model, exclusively based on data typically available in routine care. Our results show that using this model to aid decisions during bDMARD tapering may significantly reduce the number of flares while maintaining most of the bDMARD dose reduction.

Trial registration

The clinical impact of the prediction model is currently under investigation in the PATIO randomized controlled trial (Dutch Trial Register number NL9798).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13075-022-02751-8.

Predictors of successful discontinuation of biologic and targeted synthetic DMARDs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in remission or low disease activity: a systematic literature review

OBJECTIVE

To systematically review possible predictors of successful discontinuation of biologic or targeted synthetic DMARDs (b/tsDMARDs) in RA patients in remission or low disease activity.

METHODS

MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library were scanned for studies that discontinued b/tsDMARDs in remission/low disease activity and searched for predictors of successful discontinuation. Additionally, EULAR and ACR meeting abstracts were hand searched.

RESULTS

Thirty-four studies with a total of 5724 patients were included. Predictors of successful b/tsDMARD discontinuation were (number of studies): low disease activity (n = 13), better physical function (n = 6), low or absence of rheumatoid factor (n = 5) or ACPA (n = 3), low levels of CRP (n = 3) or ESR (n = 3), shorter disease duration (n = 3), low signals of disease activity by ultrasound (n = 3). Only one study with high risk of bias was identified on tsDMARD discontinuation.

CONCLUSION

Several predictors of successful bDMARD discontinuation were identified. Although studies are heterogeneous, these predictors may inform clinical decision making in patients who are considered for a potential bDMARD discontinuation.

Cost-effectiveness of five different anti-tumour necrosis factor tapering strategies in rheumatoid arthritis: a modelling study

Objective: To investigate the cost-effectiveness of five different tumour necrosis factor inhibitor tapering strategies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and stable low disease activity, using a modelling design.Method: Using Markov models based on data from the DRESS and STRASS randomized controlled trials, and the Nijmegen RA cohort, five tapering strategies for etanercept and adalimumab were tested against continuation: 1, four-step tapering (DRESS strategy); 2, five-step tapering; 3, tapering without withdrawal; 4, use of a stricter flare criterion; and 5, use of a theoretical predictor for successful tapering. We also examined how well a biomarker should be able to predict in order for strategy 5 to become cost-effective compared to the other strategies.Results: All examined tapering strategies were cost saving (range: EUR 5128 to 7873) but yielded more short-lived flares compared to continuation. The change in utilities compared to continuation was minimal and not clinically relevant (range: -0.005 to 0.007 quality-adjusted life-years). Strategy 1 was cost-effective compared to all other strategies [highest incremental net monetary benefit (iNMB)]. However, there was a large overlap in credible intervals, especially between strategies 1 and 2. Scenario analyses showed that 50% reduction of drug prices would result in the highest iNMB for strategy 2. A biomarker only becomes cost-effective when it is inexpensive and has a sensitivity and specificity of at least 84%.Conclusion: Because our study showed a comparable iNMB for tapering in four or five steps (including discontinuation), we recommend a choice between these strategies, based on shared decision making.