Clinical and radiological dissociation of anti-TNF plus methotrexate treatment in early rheumatoid arthritis in routine care: results from the ABRAB study

2023 Management Recommendations of Bangladesh Rheumatology Society on Pharmacological Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis With Synthetic and Biologic Disease-Modifying Drugs

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common inflammatory polyarthritis in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Rheumatology Society (BRS) proposes these management recommendations to treat the considerable burden of RA in the resource-constrained situation based on the best current evidence combined with societal challenges and opportunities. BRS formed a task force (TF) comprising four rheumatologists. The TF searched for all available literature, including updated American College of Rheumatology (ACR), European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR), and Asia-Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology (APLAR) and several other guidelines, and systematic literature reviews until October 2023, and then a steering committee was formed, which included rheumatologists and internists. We followed the EULAR standard operating procedures to categorize levels of evidence and grading of recommendations. This recommendation has two parts -- general (diagnosis of RA, nomenclature of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs [DMARDs], disease activity indices) and management portion. The TF agreed on four overarching principles and 12 recommendations. Overarching principles deal with early diagnosis and disease activity monitoring. Recommendations 1-5 discuss using glucocorticoids, NSAIDs, and conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARD). Recommendations 6-9 stretch the use of targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs) and biological DMARDs (bDMARDs). The suggested DMARD therapy includes initiation with methotrexate (MTX) or another csDMARD (in case of contraindication to MTX) in the first phase and the addition of a tsDMARD in the second phase, switching to an alternative tsDMARDs or bDMARDs in the subsequent phases. The TF included the Padua prediction score for the thromboembolism risk estimation. Recommendations 10-12 cover infection screening, vaccination, and DMARD tapering. Bangladesh has a higher prevalence of RA. This recommendation will serve as a tool to treat this high burden of patients with RA scientifically and more effectively.

Etanercept is Effective and Halts Radiographic Progression in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis: Final Results from a German Non-interventional Study (PRERA)

INTRODUCTION

Etanercept (ETN) has been shown to slow radiographic progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in clinical trials. This real-world, non-interventional study assessed radiographic progression in patients with RA or PsA treated with ETN for ≤ 36 months in outpatient care in Germany (NCT01623752).

METHODS

Patients with RA or PsA attended ≤ 10 visits across two study phases (phase 1: seven visits, baseline to month 18; phase 2: three visits until month 36). Radiographs were taken at baseline (Rx1), months 12-18 (Rx2), and/or months 30-36 (Rx3). Historic radiographs (Rx0) taken 12-48 months pre-baseline were also evaluated (if available). The primary endpoint was the change in modified total Sharp score (mTSS). The erosion score (ES) and joint space narrowing score (JSN) were also evaluated.

RESULTS

Overall, 1821 patients were enrolled (RA: n = 1378; PsA: n = 440). In patients with Rx1 and Rx2 (RA: n = 511; PsA: n = 167), the mean mTSS remained stable for both disease groups, and the annualized median change in mTSS was 0. In patients with Rx0, Rx1, and Rx2 (RA: n = 180; PsA: n = 47), annualized radiographic progression in mTSS, ES, and JSN was larger in the pre-ETN treatment phase than during ETN treatment in both disease groups. The percentage of patients with radiographic non-progression was higher during ETN treatment versus pre-ETN. Improvement in clinical disease activity and patient-reported outcomes was also observed.

CONCLUSIONS

This was the first real-world, non-interventional study to report systematically collected radiographic data in a large cohort of patients with RA or PsA under treatment with a biologic. In patients with available radiographic data, mean radiographic progression was lower and the proportion of patients without progression was greater during ETN treatment than in the pre-ETN period.

C-Reactive Protein-to-Albumin Ratio: A Novel Inflammatory Marker and Disease Activity Sign in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective A novel inflammation-based score, C-reactive protein (CRP)-to-albumin ratio (CAR), has been shown to have an association with the inflammatory status in several diseases. We aimed to analyse the association between CAR and disease activity in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to determine the cut-off value of CAR in early and established RA.

Methods A total of 177 patients with RA and 111 age and gender-matched healthy controls were included in this study. Cases with a disease duration of less than 1 year were classified as early RA. Serum albumin, CRP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS-28-ESR), Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) scores were recorded.

Results CAR was 2.44 (0.21–30.83) in the RA group and 0.45 (0.21–10.47) in the control group (p<0.001). Eighty-seven (49.15%) of the RA cases were classified as early RA. The analyses indicated that the ESR, CRP and CAR values were higher in patients with early RA than in those with established RA and controls. CAR was correlated with albumin, CRP, ESH, DAS-28 and HAQ scores in both early RA and established RA groups. The receiver operating characteristic curves revealed a CAR cut-off value of 2.67 (80% sensitivity and 85% specificity) and 1.63 (77% sensitivity and 72% specificity) for the prediction of early and established RA, respectively.

Conclusion CAR, a formulated ratio, has been described as a predictor for disease activity in patients with early RA as well as in those with established RA. However, CAR has higher sensitivity and specificity for early RA than for established RA.

Does concomitant methotrexate confer clinical benefits in patients treated with prior biologic therapy? Analysis of data from a noninterventional study of rheumatoid arthritis patients initiating treatment with adalimumab

Most studies of methotrexate (MTX) in combination with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors have focused on treatment-naive patients with early disease. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether previous biologic therapy influenced the impact of concomitant MTX in patients initiating treatment with adalimumab.We retrospectively analyzed data from 2 large noninterventional studies of German patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who initiated adalimumab therapy during routine clinical practice. Patients were seen between April 2004 and February 2013 for study 1 and between April 2003 and March 2013 for study 2. Key outcomes were Disease Activity Score-28 joints (DAS28), patient global assessment of health (PGA), and pain. Subgroup analyses by prior biologic treatment were performed on patients treated with continuous adalimumab monotherapy or adalimumab plus MTX for 12 months and 2-sample t tests were used to evaluate differences. We also assessed outcomes in subgroups in which MTX had been added or removed at 6 months and compared outcomes with 1-sample t tests.Of 2654 patients, 1911 (72%) were biologic naive and 743 (28%) had received prior biologic therapy, usually with a TNF inhibitor. All subgroups showed improvements following initiation of adalimumab therapy. In patients with no previous biologic treatment, continuous adalimumab plus MTX was associated with greater improvements in DAS28, PGA, and pain at month 12 compared with continuous adalimumab monotherapy (P = .0006, .0031, and .0032, respectively). In patients with previous biologic treatment, concomitant MTX was associated with statistically significant benefits in pain only. Adding MTX at month 6 resulted in additional benefits in patients with no prior biologic therapy, but not those with previous biologics.We conclude that concomitant MTX resulted in additional improvements in DAS28 and PGA vs adalimumab monotherapy in patients with no previous biologic therapy, but changes were not statistically significant in patients treated with prior biologics. These findings may help inform the patient/provider treatment decision during routine clinical care.

Molecular dissection of TNFR-TNFα bidirectional signaling reveals both cooperative and antagonistic interactions with p75 neurotrophic factor receptor in axon patterning

During neural development, complex organisms rely on progressive and regressive events whereby axons, synapses, and neurons are overproduced followed by selective elimination of a portion of these components. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) together with its cognate receptor (Tumor necrosis factor receptor 1; TNFR1) have been shown to play both regressive (i.e. forward signaling from the receptor) and progressive (i.e. reverse signaling from the ligand) roles in sympathetic neuron development. In contrast, a paralog of TNFR1, p75 neurotrophic factor receptor (p75NTR) promotes mainly regressive developmental events in sympathetic neurons. Here we examine the interplay between these paralogous receptors in the regulation of axon branch elimination and arborization. We confirm previous reports that these TNFR1 family members are individually capable of promoting ligand-dependent suppression of axon growth and branching. Remarkably, p75NTR and TNFR1 physically interact and p75NTR requires TNFR1 for ligand-dependent axon suppression of axon branching but not vice versa. We also find that p75NTR forward signaling and TNFα reverse signaling are functionally antagonistic. Finally, we find that TNFα reverse signaling is necessary for nerve growth factor (NGF) dependent axon growth. Taken together these findings demonstrate several levels of synergistic and antagonistic interactions using very few signaling pathways and that the balance of these synergizing and opposing signals act to ensure proper axon growth and patterning.

Anti-TNF therapy is able to stabilize bowel damage progression in patients with Crohn's disease. A study performed using the Lémann Index

AIMS

The Lémann Index (LI) was developed to assess the cumulative structural damage of the intestinal tract in patients with Crohn's Disease (CD) independently of clinical and biochemical activity. Recently, the goal of CD focused on obtaining mucosal healing and deep remission rather than simple symptom control. These new therapeutic aims emphasize the need to prevent progression of bowel damage. In this study we aimed to evaluate the influence of different treatments on structural damage progression, assessed by means of LI in a series of CD patients consistently treated with various drugs.

METHODS

The LI was calculated at inclusion and at the end of follow-up in 104 CD patients subdivided according to treatments received: biological drugs (n=40, 38.4%), azathioprine (n=19, 18.3%), and mesalazine (n=45, 43.3%).

RESULTS

The median follow-up was 29 months, with no difference among groups. During follow-up, the median LI was stable in the biological group [from 6.3 (range, 0.6-37.3) to 6.4 (range, 0.6-37.6), P=0.543], whereas it significantly increased from 4.1 (range, 0.6-30) to 8.3 (range, 0.6-31.8) in the azathioprine group (P=0.0006), and from 2.4 (range, 0.6-25.8) to 4.1 (range, 0.6-28.8) in the mesalazine group (P<0.0001). Also during follow-up the LI increased significantly (P=0.004) in the azathioprine (68.4%) and mesalazine (60.0%) groups as compared with the biological therapy group (30.0%).

CONCLUSIONS

In CD patients the LI tends to increase over time, although the use of biological drugs rather than azathioprine or mesalazine seems to be able to reduce the progressive bowel damage.

Bowel Damage as Assessed by the Lémann Index is Reversible on Anti-TNF Therapy for Crohn's Disease

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Bowel damage [BD] will develop in the majority of Crohn's disease [CD] patients. Recently, the Lémann Index [LI] was developed to measure BD.

METHODS

This was a prospective single-center cohort study. All included patients underwent full evaluation for bowel damage before starting anti-TNF therapy and every year thereafter. BD at baseline and during follow-up was measured using the LI. We assessed the impact of anti-TNF therapy on BD. We also assessed the sensitivity to change of the LI and the relationship between BD progression and disease outcomes, including the need for surgery.

RESULTS

Thirty CD patients were enrolled [13 on infliximab, 17 on adalimumab]. Median baseline LI was 9.1 [range, 1.6-34.1]. Median follow up was 32.5 months [range, 10-64].By a ROC curve analysis, a LI >4.8 defined CD subjects with BD. Any change >0.3 in the LI was related to BD change [AUC 0.98]. During follow-up, 83% of subjects had BD regression and 17% had BD progression. Anti-TNF therapy significantly reduced LI at 12 months [p=0.007]. Subjects with BD progression were more likely to undergo major abdominal surgery through the follow-up period [HR 0.19, p=0.005].

CONCLUSION

The LI has good sensitivity to change. Anti-TNFs agents are able to reverse BD in some CD patients. BD progression as measured by the LI may be predictive of major abdominal surgery in these patients.