October 2014

Tofacitinib with methotrexate in third-line treatment of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: Patient-reported outcomes from a Phase 3 trial

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2014 Sep 3. doi: 10.1002/acr.22453. [Epub ahead of print]

For many patients with rheumatoid arthritis, improvements in pain, physical function, fatigue, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are more important and meaningful than improvements in joint swelling, tenderness, or inhibition of structural damage. These patient-perceived benefits of RA therapy contribute importantly to overall clinical efficacy.

This paper presents patient-reported outcomes (PROs) form the ORAL Step trail, which assessed tofacitinib 5 mg or 10 mg twice daily, or ...

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August 2014

Analysis of Infections and All-Cause Mortality in Phase II, III and Long-Term Extension Studies of Tofacitinib in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Arthritis Rheumatol. 2014;66(11):2924–2937

This study pools data from the global tofacitinib RA development programme (phase II, phase III and long-term extension studies) to determine the rate of infections and all-cause mortality with tofacitinib treatment. In total, 4,789 patients within these studies received tofacitinib, at varying doses and with varying duration.

The overall incidence rate of serious infections was 3.09 events/100 patient-years (95% CI 2.73–3.49), which was stable over time, with pneumonia and skin and soft...

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June 2014

Alternative p38 MAPKs Are Essential for Collagen-Induced Arthritis

Arthritis and Rheumatology Vol66, No. 5, May2014 pp 1208-1217

MAPK family proteins are regulatory proteins, affecting processes such as synthesis and release of proinflammatory molecules which contribute to the pathogenesis of RA. In particular, the p38 MAPK protein family is central to proinflammatory cytokine production. There are four member of the p38 group; p38α, p38β, p38γ and p38δ. This study sought to evaluate p38γ and p38δ deficiency in mice CIA model. In p38γ-/- or p38δ-/- mice, the percentage of mic...

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Structure of the pseudokinase-kinase domains from protein kinase TYK2 reveals a mechanism for Janus kinase (JAK) autoinhibition

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 May 19. pii: 201401180. [Epub ahead of print]

The JAK family of kinases (JAK1, JAK2, JAK3 and TYK2) are receptor-associated tyrosine kinases that act downstream of many cytokines and interferons. Recent studies have provided structural information about the kinase and pseudokinase domains of JAKs however the molecular mechanism by which JAK activity is regulated by the pseudokinase domain is poorly understood. This study builds on a recent finding that the N terminus of the JAK1 pseudokinase group may act as a switch for kinase activation b...

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February 2014

Safety of synthetic and biological DMARDs: a systematic literature review informing the 2013 update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis

Ann Rheum Dis doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204575

Two systematic literature reviews were undertaken to update the safety findings on synthetic and biological DMARDs in order to inform the updates to the EULAR recommendations to the treatment of RA. Of 10,559 articles screened, 49 were included for review covering a diverse range of outcomes. In the main these showed the patients on bDMARDs had a significantly greater risk of serious infections and tuberculosis compared with csDMARDs, while differences in data between studies mean a slight incre...

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