Merola et al., reported the effect of interleukin (IL)-17A inhibition with secukinumab on cardiovascular (CV) risk parameters in patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) over 1 year of treatment. This study evaluated data from 19 secukinumab related clinical trials in phase 3/4 in psoriasis, PsA, and axSpA.

Pina Vegas and her colleagues sought to assess the relative risk of MACEs in patients with PsA initiating bDMARDs or apremilast. They found that overall, the data produced overall a positive picture regarding the incidence of MACE in treatment.

Merola and colleagues demonstrated a rapid and sustained reduction in hsCRP and the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with IMIDs with a high systemic inflammatory burden treated with secukinumab.

February 2022

Systematic review and network meta-analysis highlight that RA patients who receive recommended doses of the five approved JAK inhibitors (tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, filgotinib, and peficitinib) are likely to experience an increase in serum low- and high-density lipoprotein (LDL and HDL) levels.JAK inhibitors have been associated with alterations in levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol, which may lead to dyslipidaemia (an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease). However, the e...
Real-world evidence finds no increased risk of CV outcomes with tofacitinib, in comparison with TNFi, in patients with RA. However, an elevated risk of CV outcomes cannot be ruled out in patients with CV risk factors or history of CVD.Recent post-marketing findings from the ‘ORAL Surveillance’ trial have raised concerns that tofacitinib, in comparison with TNFi, may increase the risk of CV disease in patients with RA who are at least 50 years of age and with at least one risk factor for CVD. To ...

Cardiovascular and Cancer Risk With Tofacitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis

N Engl J Med 2022;386:316–26. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2202778

In this paper, Ytterberg et al. compare incidence of MACE and cancers (excluding NMSC) with tofacitinib 5 mg BID, tofacitinib 10 mg BID and TNFi. They found that risk of MACE and cancer were higher with tofacitinib versus TNFi, and did not meet noninferiority criteria.This prospective head-to-head safety trial compared tofacitinib to TNFi, and was required by the FDA after increases in lipid levels and cancers were observed during tofacitinib drug development. ...

April 2021

Comparative Analysis of BTK Inhibitors and Mechanisms Underlying Adverse Effects

Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 9:630942 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.630942

Understanding of the B-cell receptor signalling pathway led to the identification of a suitable drug target to addresses autoimmunity and inflammation in areas such as MS, RA, pemphigus and SLE. There are currently 22 BTKis in various stages of clinical development. However, AEs such as cardiovascular and bleeding side effects, as well as rash, diarrhoea and infections have been associated with the inhibition of other kinases with a BTKi-binding cysteine in their catalytic domain.Based on clinic...

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September 2020

Incidence of venous and arterial thromboembolic events reported in the tofacitinib rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis development programmes and from real-world data

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 05 August 2020 2020 Nov;79(11):1400-1413. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-216761. Epub 2020 Aug 5.

Concerns surrounding increased rates of PE and cardiovascular associated deaths has led to black box warnings when prescribing JAK inhibitors. As such, ongoing investigations regarding cardiovascular and VTE event risks in JAK inhibitor therapies, both clinical and real-world, are vital. Mease and colleagues consider data from clinical tofacitinib development programmes, and the ongoing real-data study A3921133. Conclusions from data analysis state that those with pre-existing cardiovascular and...

May 2020

Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) had similar safety profile with TOF to that of other systemic therapies in real-world settings, except for the known risk of HZ. Treatment recommendations from EULAR and GRAPPA for patients with PsA vary according to adverse prognostic risk factors, disease manifestations and responsiveness to prior treatment. Safety concerns for most PsA therapies include gastrointestinal AEs, hepatotoxicity, opportunistic infections (OIs) including TB, and SIEs. This stu...

December 2019

Highlights of 2019

Please click the links below to go to the CSF review of each paper

2019 was another remarkable year in cytokine signalling. We can be optimistic that clinical practice for inflammatory arthritis will continue to improve, with promising long-term safety data supporting the use of established JAK inhibitors; tofacitinib and baricitinib, in addition to exciting phase III clinical data for filgotinib and newly approved upadacitinib. You can find the most notable papers, as selected by CSF Steering Committee Chair Professor Iain McInnes, with links to their respecti...

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