The Efficacy of Medium- to Long-term Anti-TNF-α Antibody-based Maintenance Therapy in Behçet's Disease Patients with Intestinal Lesions

Anti-TNF-α agents for refractory intestinal Behçet's disease: case series and meta-analysis

Background

Behçet's disease (BD) is a relapsing systemic immune disorder, and intestinal BD is a significant cause of mortality in patients with BD. Conventional therapeutic strategies for intestinal BD showed unsatisfactory outcomes, especially in those patients with refractory subtypes. In recent years, biologic agents have exhibited promising results in this field. While the sample sizes of existing studies were limited, the results were heterogeneous.

Objectives

This study aimed to observe the efficacy of different biologics in clinical symptomatic improvement and intestinal mucosal healing.

Design

This is a study including the report of case series and meta-analysis.

Data sources and methods

This meta-analysis was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Free-text words and subject terms, including 'Behcet's Syndrome', 'Biologics', 'Tumor Necrosis Factor Antagonist', were used to systematically research the relevant studies in the electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library). All retrieved articles were from inception to July 2021, and the data from our institution were also included in this meta-analysis. A double arcsine transformation was performed to stabilize the variance of the original ratio. Heterogeneity was evaluated via Q-test and I 2 statistics. Random-effects or fixed-effects model was used to calculate the pooled parameters, and the results were presented as forest plots with 95% confidence intervals.

Results

Twelve studies were included, but only antitumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF-α) agents were prescribed as biologicals for refractory intestinal BD. The symptom improvement rates at our institution ranged from 57.1 to 81.8%, and the mucosal healing rates were from 20 to 60% in different therapeutic periods. A total of 514 patients were enrolled in the meta-analysis, and the synthesized ratios showed that 59.8% (n = 377) and 73.7% (n = 317) of patients who received maintenance therapy with anti-TNF-α agents could achieve clinical symptomatic improvement during short-term (10-14 weeks) and long-term (48-54 weeks) periods, respectively. Furthermore, 77.8% (n = 229) of patients with intestinal BD maintained therapeutic efficacy for a longer time (100 weeks). In addition, 60.9% (n = 120) of the patients achieved sustained intestinal mucosal healing during a long-term follow-up (24-52 weeks).

Conclusion

Anti-TNF-α treatment is effective in treating refractory intestinal BD but more studies are required to evaluate the effects of new biologics for intestinal BD in the near future.

Registration

This study has been registered on PROSPERO, the ID is CRD42022329211.

Plain language summary

Anti-TNF-α agents are effective and safe in patients with intestinal Behçet's disease Behçet's disease (BD) is a disease affecting several organs including the gastrointestinal tract. Nowadays, the efficacy of existing therapy strategies is still unsatisfactory and some patients are suffering from repeated attacks of the disease. We noticed that a new kind of medicine, called antitumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF-α) agents, was applied to these patients recently. The therapeutic efficacy is not convincing enough to evaluate since the number of patients receiving this new medicine was small in every individual study. Regarding this, we conducted a research to learn about the efficacy of this medicine at our own institution. Besides, we composed the results of other studies in an appropriate way. Then, we drew a conclusion on the exact efficacy of anti-TNF-α agents after the data analysis. We unveiled that the anti-TNF-α agents appeared both effective and safe in the management of intestinal BD patients when the classical therapy failed. More than half of the patients could achieve discomfort remission when they got the therapy of the new medicine at our institution. We also found that intestinal ulcers in most patients improved after they received the treatment. All in all, it offered another foothold for getting relief in these patients who were caught in this mire.

The efficacy and safety of anti-tumor necrosis factor agents in the treatment of intestinal Behcet's disease, a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Behcet's disease is a systemic vasculitis that can involve gastrointestinal tract. This is a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the efficacy and safety of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents in treating patients with intestinal Behcet's disease.

METHODS

We conducted searches on PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane. Data from eligible studies were used to calculate the pooled estimate of proportions of clinical remission, mucosal healing at Months 3, 6, 12, and 24 as well as the pooled incidence of adverse drug reactions. And subgroup analysis based on the specific type of anti-TNF agents was performed.

RESULTS

Of the 828 studies initially identified, 13 were included finally, all of which were single-arm cohort studies. The pooled proportions of clinical remission at Months 3, 6, 12, and 24 were 0.61 (95%CI 0.48-0.78), 0.51 (95%CI 0.40-0.66), 0.57 (95%CI 0.48-0.67), and 0.38 (95%CI 0.16-0.88), respectively. The pooled proportions of mucosal healing at Months 3, 6, 12, and 24 were 0.66 (95%CI 0.50-0.86), 0.82 (95%CI 0.48-0.98), 0.65 (95%CI 0.51-0.81), and 0.69 (95%CI 0.39-1.00), respectively. The pooled estimate of proportion of overall adverse drug reactions for infliximab was 0.22 (95%CI 0.07-0.69).

CONCLUSIONS

Anti-TNF agents, including infliximab and adalimumab, were an efficient therapy for intestinal Behcet's disease. The safety of anti-TNF agents used in the treatment of intestinal Behcet's disease was acceptable.