Cysteine-Rich Angiogenic Inducer 61 Serves as a Potential Serum Biomarker for the Remission of Adult-Onset Still's Disease

Efficacy and safety of canakinumab in the treatment of adult-onset Still's disease: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare inflammatory disease, typically characterized by spiking fever, skin rash, and arthralgia or arthritis. Its conventional treatment includes NSAIDs and corticosteroids, and DMARDs as second-line therapy. Frequently, IL-1 inhibitors are also required, mainly in patients refractory to traditional therapy. Canakinumab is a monoclonal antibody that binds IL-1β with high affinity and specificity, making it appropriate for therapeutic purposes in AOSD.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this systematic review was to identify and compile the current data on the efficacy and safety of canakinumab in the treatment of AOSD.

METHODS

Following the guidelines established by the PRISMA statement, we searched Scopus, Web of Science, Pubmed, and Cochrane Library for relevant literature up to March 2021. The inclusion criteria comprised: randomized controlled trials, pooled analyses, observational studies, case series, and case reports.

RESULTS

Seventeen studies published from 2012 to 2021 were evaluated; 11 of these correspond to case series or case reports, four observational studies, one placebo-controlled phase II trial, and one analysis of pooled systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis data. In general, out of a total of 99 patients, 68.7% of these presented a complete remission of the systemic and arthritic manifestations at the end of the observation period, while 16.2% of the patients showed a partial improvement of the symptoms and the remaining (15.1%) did not show clinical improvement or were excluded. Moreover, 210 adverse events were reported in 69 patients during canakinumab treatment, of which the majority correspond to respiratory tract infections, arthralgia, disease flares, abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea, whereas the most common severe adverse events included macrophage activation syndrome and serious infections. Also, a corticosteroid-sparing effect was observed in a large percentage of patients.

CONCLUSION

More studies with solid evidence are needed to support the efficacy of canakinumab in AOSD, although its use is encouraged by the increasing favorable results reported and the efficacy of other IL-1 inhibitors. It was also associated with an acceptable safety profile, similar to expected in IL-1 inhibitor therapy. However, future studies with well-defined endpoints are warranted to examine further the usefulness of canakinumab in AOSD.

Adult-onset Still's disease in focus: Clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and unmet needs in the era of targeted therapies

BACKGROUND

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology, characterized by a clinical triad of high spiking fever, arthralgia (± arthritis), and evanescent skin rash. Management of AOSD poses several challenges, including difficulty in diagnosis and limited therapeutic options. In this review, we examined whether AOSD and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) represent a continuum of the same disease. We also explored the latest available evidence related to prevalence, clinical and laboratory manifestations, complications, diagnostic challenges, novel biomarkers, and treatment options in the era of biologics and identified the unmet needs of patients with AOSD.

METHODS

A comprehensive systematic literature search was performed in the Embase and MEDLINE (via PubMed) literature databases. The search was limited to human studies published in English from inception up to March 2020. Additionally, abstracts presented at various conferences were screened and hand searches were performed. Publications were processed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

RESULTS

A total of 123 publications were identified through the literature search, majority of which were case series and retrospective observational studies. AOSD and SJIA are widely considered part of the same disease spectrum owing to similarities in their clinical and biological features. The clinical presentation of AOSD is highly variable, accompanied by a broad spectrum of disease manifestations. Recent evidence suggests that the AOSD disease course can be classified into two distinct categories: "systemic" and "articular." Furthermore, AOSD patients may experience various life-threatening complications, such as macrophage activation syndrome - reported in as high as 23% of AOSD patients and considered to be the most severe complication characterized by a high mortality rate. The ambiguity in presentation and lack of serologic markers make the diagnosis of AOSD difficult, often leading to a delay in diagnosis. Given these limitations, the Yamaguchi and Fautrel criteria are the most widely used diagnostic tools in clinical practice. It has been observed that a clinical diagnosis of AOSD is generally reached by exclusion while investigating a patient with fever of unknown origin. Recent advances have demonstrated a major role of proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-18, and IL-37, and other biomarkers in the pathogenesis and management of AOSD. Owing to the rarity of the disease, there are very limited clinical trials evaluating management strategies for AOSD. The current AOSD treatment paradigm includes non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and glucocorticoids initially, conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in steroid-refractory patients, and biologics in those resistant to conventional treatment. Only a few country-specific guidelines for the management of AOSD have been published, and a treat-to-target approach, as previously recommended for SJIA, is still lacking. Canakinumab is the only FDA-approved biologic for the treatment of AOSD.

CONCLUSION

Emerging evidence supports that AOSD and SJIA represent a continuum of the same disease entity. Despite advancements in the understanding of AOSD, it continues to pose a substantial burden on patients and the healthcare systems, and substantial unmet needs exist across key domains such as the pathway to diagnosis, use of biomarkers in clinical practice, and standardized treatment strategies. Further research and collaboration is crucial for optimizing the diagnosis and management of AOSD patients.

Serum Heparin-Binding Protein as a Potential Biomarker to Distinguish Adult-Onset Still's Disease From Sepsis

Adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) is a systemic, multifactorial, autoinflammatory disease for which the etiopathogenesis is not well understood. Given the similarities in clinical and laboratory features between this disease and sepsis, and the differences in treatment strategies for these two diseases, specific diagnostic markers are crucial for the correct diagnosis and management of AOSD. Previous studies have shown plasma heparin-binding protein (HBP) is a promising potential biomarker for AOSD; thus, this study aimed to detect serum HBP levels in patients with AOSD or sepsis to assess its potential as a biomarker for differential diagnosis. We found that serum HBP levels were significantly higher in patients with active AOSD than that in those with inactive AOSD. Patients with sepsis had higher serum HBP levels compared with those who had active or inactive AOSD. We calculated the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to assess whether HBP could be used to differentiate active from inactive AOSD; this was 0.811 with sensitivity 0.650, specificity 0.811, and cutoff HBP value of 35.59 ng/ml. The area under the ROC curve for HBP as a biomarker to differentiate AOSD from sepsis was 0.653, with sensitivity 0.759, and specificity 0.552, and cutoff HBP value of 65.1 ng/ml. Taken together, the results of our study suggest that serum HBP could be a useful diagnostic biomarker to evaluate disease activity in patients with AOSD, and to differentiate AOSD from sepsis.

Correlation between serum cysteine-rich protein 61 and disease activity of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis

OBJECTIVES

Cysteine-rich protein 61 (CYR61) stimulates protein kinase B (Akt)-mediated nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signalling leading to an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, which play important roles in the pathogenesis of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). Hence, we investigated whether serum CYR61 was correlated with disease activity of AAV in a single-centre prospective cohort.

METHODS

Seventy-two patients with AAV were randomly selected and included. Serum CYR61, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 levels were quantified with the patients' stored sera, and clinical and laboratory data at the time of blood sampling were collected. Spearman's correlation and linear regression analysis was conducted to analyse the correlation between continuous variables. The optimal cut-off of serum CYR61 for predicting high disease activity was identified using the receiver operator characteristic curve. Birmingham vasculitis activity score (BVAS) was used as a measure to assess disease activity, and high disease activity was defined as BVAS ≥ 12.

RESULTS

Serum CYR61 significantly correlated with BVAS (r = 0.249), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = 0.283), C-reactive protein (r = 0.298) and serum IL-6 (r = 0.319). However, a linear association was not found between CYR61 and BVAS (β = 0.102, P = 0.304). The relative risk (RR) for high disease activity in AAV patients with serum CYR61 ≥ 236.2 pg/mL was higher than those with serum CYR61 < 236.2 pg/mL (RR 3.316, P = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

Even though serum CYR61 was not directly proportional to the increase of BVAS, it could be predictive of high disease activity in AAV. Key Points • Serum CYR61 was significantly correlated with BVAS along with ESR, CRP and serum IL-6. • The cut-off of serum CYR61 for high disease activity of AAV was obtained as 236.2 pg/mL. • AAV patients with serum CYR61 ≥ 236.2 pg/mL had increased risk of having higher disease activity than those with serum CYR61 < 236.2 pg/mL (RR 3.316, P = 0.018).

Urinary Proteomics Identifying Novel Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Adult-Onset Still's Disease

Adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) is a systemic, multigenic autoinflammatory disease, and the diagnosis of AOSD must rule out neoplasms, infections, and other autoimmune diseases. Development of a rapid and efficient but non-invasive diagnosis method is urgently needed for improving AOSD therapy. In this study, we first performed a urinary proteomic study using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) labeling combined with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis in patients with AOSD and healthy control (HC) subjects. The urinary proteins were enriched in pathways of the innate immune system and neutrophil degranulation, and we identified that the α-1-acid glycoprotein 1 (LRG1), orosomucoid 1 (ORM1), and ORM2 proteins were highly expressed in patients with AOSD. The elevated urine levels of LRG1, ORM1, and ORM2 were further validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in active patients with AOSD, disease controls, and HC subjects. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the areas under the curve of LRG1, ORM1, and ORM2 were 0.700, 0.837, and 0.736, respectively (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, we found that the urine levels of LRG1, ORM1, and ORM2 were positively correlated with the systemic score and erythrocyte sedimentation rate and that the urine levels of LRG1 were positively correlated with interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and IL-18 levels, whereas the urine levels of ORM1 were positively correlated with the IL-1β level. Together, our study identified novel urinary markers for non-invasive and simple screening of AOSD.