Poor Adherence to Self-Applied Topical Drug Treatment Is a Common Source of Low Lesion Clearance in Patients with Actinic Keratosis-A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Many treatments for actinic keratosis (AK) have been proven efficient in clinical trials. However, patients with AK may still experience unsatisfactory therapeutic outcomes in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate patient adherence to self-applied topical interventions for AK and to explore factors associated with adherence in a real-world setting.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted. Patients presenting with AK were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire about their last topical AK treatment.

RESULTS

A total of 113 patients participated with a median age of 78.5 years (range 58-94). Fifty-four patients (47.8%) received topical diclofenac, ten (8.8%) imiquimod, nine (8%) 5-fluorouracil, nine (8%) 5-fluorouracil plus salicylic acid, and eight (7.1%) photodynamic therapy. The non-adherence rate was 46.9% (n = 53), and only 30.9% (n = 35) used the topical treatments according to the summary of product characteristics (SmPC). These subgroups were compared. Patients of the non-compliant group were significantly less informed about the application time of the specific topical intervention (p = 0.002) and adjusted the timeframe (p < 0.001) and application frequency of the therapy (p = 0.02) independently of their physician. Conversely, patients reporting a sufficient pre-treatment consultation (p = 0.019) generally complied with the SmPC compliance application.

CONCLUSIONS

A thorough pre-treatment consultation can help to increase treatment adherence and ensure lesion clearance.

DeepNAPSI multi-reader nail psoriasis prediction using deep learning

Nail psoriasis occurs in about every second psoriasis patient. Both, finger and toe nails can be affected and also severely destroyed. Furthermore, nail psoriasis is associated with a more severe course of the disease and the development of psoriatic arthritis. User independent quantification of nail psoriasis, however, is challenging due to the heterogeneous involvement of matrix and nail bed. For this purpose, the nail psoriasis severity index (NAPSI) has been developed. Experts grade pathological changes of each nail of the patient leading to a maximum score of 80 for all nails of the hands. Application in clinical practice, however, is not feasible due to the time-intensive manual grading process especially if more nails are involved. In this work we aimed to automatically quantify the modified NAPSI (mNAPSI) of patients using neuronal networks retrospectively. First, we performed photographs of the hands of patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. In a second step, we collected and annotated the mNAPSI scores of 1154 nail photos. Followingly, we extracted each nail automatically using an automatic key-point-detection system. The agreement among the three readers with a Cronbach's alpha of 94% was very high. With the nail images individually available, we trained a transformer-based neural network (BEiT) to predict the mNAPSI score. The network reached a good performance with an area-under-receiver-operator-curve of 88% and an area-under precision-recall-curve (PR-AUC) of 63%. We could compare the results with the human annotations and achieved a very high positive Pearson correlation of 90% by aggregating the predictions of the network on the test set to the patient-level. Lastly, we provided open access to the whole system enabling the use of the mNAPSI in clinical practice.

Intensity and longevity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination response in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disease: a prospective cohort study

Background

Concerns have been raised about the reduced immunogenicity of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and the higher risk of breakthrough infections. The objective of our study was to investigate the intensity and longevity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination responses in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, and to assess the effects of diagnosis, treatment, and adapted vaccination schedules.

Methods

SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody response after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was measured over time in a large prospective cohort of healthy controls and participants with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (attending or admitted to affiliated centres) between Dec 15, 2020, and Dec 1, 2021. Cohort participants with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and control participants with no diagnosis of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, were eligible for this analysis. Demographic data and disease-specific data were collected using a questionnaire. Humoral response was compared across treatment and disease groups, and with respect to the receipt of additional vaccinations. SARS-CoV-2 antibody response was measured by ELISA using optical density ratio units and modelled over time with age and sex adjustment using mixed-effects models. Using these models, marginal mean antibody titres and marginal risks of a poor response (optical density ratio <1·1) were calculated for each week starting from week 8 after the first vaccination to week 40.

Findings

Among 5076 individuals registered, 2535 participants with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (mean age 55·0 [15·2] years; 1494 [58·9%] women and 1041 [41·1%] men) and 1198 healthy controls (mean age 40·7 [13·5] years; 554 [46·2%] women and 644 [53·8%] men) were included in this analysis. Mean antibody titres were higher in healthy controls compared with people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases at all timepoints, with a peak antibody response in healthy controls (mean optical density ratio 12·48; 95% CI 11·50–13·53) of more than twice that in participants with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (5·50; 5·23–5·77; mean difference 6·98; 5·92–8·04). A poor response to vaccination was observed in participants with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases who were taking B-cell inhibitors (peak mean difference from healthy controls 11·68; 10·07–13·29) and T-cell inhibitors (peakmean difference from healthy controls 10·43; 8·33–12·53). Mean differences in antibody responses between different immune-mediated inflammatory diseases were small. Participants with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases who were given a third vaccine dose had higher mean antibody titres than did healthy controls vaccinated with two vaccine doses at 40 weeks after the initial vaccination (mean difference 1·34; 0·01–2·69).

Interpretation

People with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases show a lower and less durable SARS-CoV-2 vaccination response and are at risk of losing humoral immune protection. Adjusted vaccination schedules with earlier booster doses or more frequent re-doses, or both, could better protect people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, European Research Council, Innovative Medicine Initiative, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Else Kröner-Memorial Foundation.

POS0260 LONG-TERM HUMORAL RESPONSE TO SARS-CoV-2 VACCINATION IN PATIENTS WITH IMMUNE-MEDIATED INFLAMMATORY DISEASE

Background

The first vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 was approved in December 2020. Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV2 vaccines in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID) have so far been evaluated in the 2-6 weeks following complete vaccination and risk groups for poor early vaccine response have been identified leading to specific vaccination recommendations. However, data on the long-term course and persistence of vaccine response in IMID patients, as well as the outcomes of the specific recommendations are lacking.

Objectives

To evaluate the long-term course of humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in a large prospective cohort of IMID patients and non-IMID controls with a follow-up duration of up-to to 10 months after the first vaccine dose.

Methods

We have initiated a prospective dynamic cohort of IMID patients and healthy controls in February 2020 to monitor immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections including COVID-19 (1). Participants who contributed data starting from the 4 weeks before their first vaccination onwards were included in this analysis. Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were quantified with an ELISA from Euroimmun (Lübeck, Germany) with an optical density cutoff of 0.8. We fitted linear mixed-effect models for log-transformed antibody levels using time splines with adjustment for age and sex. Marginal mean antibody levels with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated at selected time points for IMID patients and controls with double vaccination. We descriptively analyzed the observed antibody levels over time in cohort participants receiving two vaccinations vs. three vaccinations.

Results

Among 5076 cohort participants, 3147 IMID patients and healthy controls (mean (SD) age 49 (16)) provided 4756 samples for this analysis between December 2020 and 2021, with a median (IQR) 28 (14-31) weeks of follow-up after the first vaccination (Table 1). 2965 (94%) participants had received at least 2 and 223 (7%) participants had received three vaccine doses by the date of their latest sampling. In IMID patients, age and sex-adjusted estimated marginal mean antibody levels waned after week 16 and were substantially reduced at all time points compared to the controls, finally dropping to the borderline range (1.01, 95%CI 0.86 to 1.19) at week 40 (Figure 1A, Table 1). A third dose was given to 128 (7%) of IMID patients with a poor response to 2 vaccine doses after a median 20 weeks of the second dose (IQR 10 to 26 weeks). After the third dose, antibody levels in IMID patients were comparable to those of healthy controls at 40 weeks who had three vaccine doses. These were also higher than that of IMID patients and controls who did not receive a third dose (Figure 1B).

Table 1.

Participant characteristics and antibody levels

Healthy controlsIMID N11991948 Age, mean (SD)40.8 (13.5)54.3 (14.8) Follow-up, weeks, median (IQR)31.1 (23.8-36.6)19.6 (12.3-26.6) Follow-up range, weeks,1.6-46.11.7-46.3Sex, n(%) Female554 (46.2)1136 (58.3)Vaccine intervals, ´median (IQR) 1st to 2nd dose4.6 (3.0-6.0)6.0 (5.0-6.1) 2nd to 3rd dose29.6 (26.9-36.4)19.9 (10.0-26.1)Diagnosis, n (%) Spondyloarthritis-713 (36.6) Rheumatoid arthritis-489 (25.1) Autoimmune disease, systemic+-420 (21.5) Inflammatory bowel disease-219 (11.2) Psoriasis-107 (5.5)Mean* antibody levels after 1st dose Week-84.16 (3.89 to 4.45)2.97 (2.83 to 3.12) Week-168.39 (7.81 to 9.02)5.04 (4.81 to 5.28) Week-325.02 (4.73 to 5.33)2.52 (2.32 to 2.74) Week-402.14 (1.95 to 2.35)1.01 (0.86 to 1.19)

+ Systemic lupus, systemic sclerosis, Sjögren’s syndrome, vasculitis

* Estimated marginal means adjusted for age and sex.

Figure 1.

Conclusion

Humoral response to vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was weaker in IMID patients compared to controls at all time points after the first vaccine dose and practically disappeared after 1 year. IMID patients can still achieve a good antibody response with a third dose even after a weak response with two doses.

References

[1]Simon D et al Nat Commun 2020

Disclosure of Interests

None declared

Impact of cytokine inhibitor therapy on the prevalence, seroconversion rate and longevity of the humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 in an unvaccinated cohort

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the impact of biological DMARD treatment on the prevalence, seroconversion rate and longevity of the humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 in IMID patients.

METHODS

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies were measured in a prospective cohort of healthcare and non-healthcare controls and IMID patients receiving no treatment or treated with conventional or biological DMARDs during the first and second COVID-19 waves. Regression models adjusting for age, sex, sampling-time and exposure risk behavior were used for calculating relative risks of seropositivity. Seroconversion rates were assessed in participants with PCR-proven SARS-CoV-2 infection. Antibody response longevity was evaluated by re-assessing participants who tested positive during the first wave.

RESULTS

4508 participants (2869 IMID patients, 1639 total controls) were analyzed. Unadjusted (RR 0.44; 95% CI: 0.31-0.62) and adjusted (RR 0.50; 95% CI: 0.34-0.73) relative risks for SARS-CoV2 IgG were significantly (p<0.001) lower in IMID patients treated with bDMARDs compared to non-healthcare controls, primarily driven by TNF-alpha, IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors-treated patients. Adjusted relative risks of untreated IMID patients (1.12; 0.75-1.67) or IMID patients receiving csDMARDs (0.70; 0.45-1.08) were not significantly different from non-healthcare controls. Lack of seroconversion in PCR+ participants was more common (38.7%) among bDMARD-treated patients than in non-healthcare controls (16%). Overall 44% of positive participants lost SARS-CoV2 antibodies at follow-up, with higher rates in IMID patients treated with bDMARDs (RR:2.86; 95%CI: 1.43-5.74).

CONCLUSIONS

IMID patients treated with bDMARDs have a lower prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, seroconvert less frequently after SARS-CoV-2 infection and may exhibit a reduced longevity of their humoral immune response. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination responses in untreated, conventionally treated and anticytokine-treated patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases

OBJECTIVES

To better understand the factors that influence the humoral immune response to vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs).

METHODS

Patients and controls from a large COVID-19 study, with (1) no previous history of COVID-19, (2) negative baseline anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG test and (3) SARS-CoV-2 vaccination at least 10 days before serum collection were measured for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG. Demographic, disease-specific and vaccination-specific data were recorded.

RESULTS

Vaccination responses from 84 patients with IMID and 182 controls were analysed. While all controls developed anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG, five patients with IMID failed to develop a response (p=0.003). Moreover, 99.5% of controls but only 90.5% of patients with IMID developed neutralising antibody activity (p=0.0008). Overall responses were delayed and reduced in patients (mean (SD): 6.47 (3.14)) compared with controls (9.36 (1.85); p<0.001). Estimated marginal means (95% CI) adjusted for age, sex and time from first vaccination to sampling were 8.48 (8.12-8.85) for controls and 6.90 (6.45-7.35) for IMIDs. Significantly reduced vaccination responses pertained to untreated, conventionally and anticytokine treated patients with IMID.

CONCLUSIONS

Immune responses against the SARS-CoV-2 are delayed and reduced in patients with IMID. This effect is based on the disease itself rather than concomitant treatment.

Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases receiving cytokine inhibitors have low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion

Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) of the joints, gut and skin are treated with inhibitors of inflammatory cytokines. These cytokines are involved in the pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Investigating anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses in IMIDs we observe a reduced incidence of SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion in IMID patients treated with cytokine inhibitors compared to patients receiving no such inhibitors and two healthy control populations, despite similar social exposure. Hence, cytokine inhibitors seem to at least partially protect from SARS-CoV-2 infection.