Evaluation of Newly Proposed Remission Cut-points for Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints (DAS28) in Rheumatoid Arthritis upon IL-6 Pathway Inhibition

Schoels M, Alasti F, Smolen JS and Aletaha D.
Arthritis Res Ther. 2017 Jul 4;19(1):155. doi: 10.1186/s13075-017-1346-5

DAS28 is not currently included in the joint remission definitions of the ACR and the EULAR because its formula is disproportionately influenced by Acute Phase Response (APR). IL-6 pathway blockers or JAK inhibitors greatly reduce APR, causing patients to be classed as in DAS28 remission despite still having multiple swollen joints. To make DAS28 remission criteria more stringent, the alternative cut-points of <1.9 and <2.2 for CRP and ESR, respectively, have been proposed. This study q...

Efficacy and Safety of Sirukumab in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis Refractory to Anti-TNF Therapy (SIRROUND-T): A Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group, Multinational, Phase 3 Study

Aletaha D, Bingham CO 3rd, Tanaka Y, Agarwal P, Kurrasch R, Tak PP and Popik S.
Lancet 2017;pii:S0140-6736(17)30401-4

In this Phase 3 multicentre, randomised controlled trial in patients with active RA who were refractory or intolerant to previous biological treatment with at least one TNF inhibitor, sirukumab 50 mg every four weeks (Q4W) or 100 mg every two weeks (Q2W) was well tolerated and significantly improved signs and symptoms of disease. Patients were randomised 1:1:1 to placebo (n=294), sirukumab 50 mg Q4W (n=292) or sirukumab 100 mg Q2W (n=292), while continuing any concomitant DMARDs. Of the 878 ran...

Recomendaciones de la EULAR para el manejo de la artritis reumatoide con medicamentos antirreumáticos modificadores de la enfermedad sintéticos y biológicos: actualización 2013

Smolen JS, Landewé R, Breedveld FC, Buch M, Burmester G, Dougados M, Emery P, Gaujoux-Viala C, Gossec L, Nam J, Ramiro S, Winthrop K, de Wit M, Aletaha D, Betteridge N, Bijlsma JWJ, Boers M, Butterger.
Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204573

The 2010 EULAR recommendations represented a significant step forward in the management of rheumatoid arthritis, and they have been widely adopted across the world. However, in the rapidly evolving world of rheumatology, it was recognised that a substantial amount of new evidence has accumulated, both on agents approved at that time as well as data on new compounds that have become available over the last 3–4 years. This motivated EULAR to form an international task force to update their r...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Clinical