Cytokine Signalling Forum: Single slide summaries – April 2022

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Cytokine Signalling Forum: Single slide summaries – January 2022

Citera G \ Peterfy CG \ Pope JE \ Winthrop K L \ Bergman M \ Grimm SE \ Nash P \ Shamail GMH \ Strand V \ Uchio A.

Upadacitinib as monotherapy or in combination with background MTX was effective in inhibiting the progression of structural joint damage through Week 48 in MTX-naïve and MTX‐inadequate responder patients with RA. Recently approved in many countries for the treatment of RA, upadacitinib has been shown to significantly reduce the progression of structural joint damage in two Phase 3 studies (SELECT-EARLY and SELECT-COMPARE). In this analysis, Peterfy, et al. evaluated the progression of stru...

JAK/STAT pathway and nociceptive cytokine signalling in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis

Crispino N, Ciccia F.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2021;39(3):668-675.

The JAK/STAT pathway is receiving increasing attention in modulation of nociceptive responses, given its clear role in cytokine signalling. The authors of this review speculate that JAKinibs may have an effect on the modulation of nociception and reduction of pain. Crispino N, et al. review the impact of pain in patients with rheumatic disease and the physiological basis of modulating nociceptive pain. They examine the role of cytokines in the modulation of pain and analyse current clinical JAK...

JAK selectivity and the implications for clinical inhibition of pharmacodynamic cytokine signalling by filgotinib, upadacitinib, tofacitinib and baricitinib

Traves PG, Murray B, Campigotto F, Galien R, Meng A, Di Paolo JA.
Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Mar 19:annrheumdis-2020-219012. Epub ahead of print. DOI: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-219012

The first study to combine in vitro inhibition of cytokine responses in whole blood with clinical pharmacokinetics of individual JAKinibs to model daily cytokine-mediated pharmacodynamic profiles in healthy individuals and patients with RA, has demonstrated that JAKinib potencies depended on cytokine stimulus, pSTAT readout and cell type. Traves and colleagues have observed that JAKinibs have unique, differential effects on specific cytokine signalling pathways, dependent on cytokine stimulus, S...

Tratamiento Farmacológico de la Artritis Psoriásica: Una Revisión Sistemática de la Literatura para la Actualización de las Recomendaciones EULAR del Tratamiento de la Artritis Psoriásica

Kerschbaumer A, Smolen JS, Dougados M, De Wit M, Primdahl J, McInnes I, Van Der Heijde D, Baraliakos X, Falzon L, Gossec L.
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2020;79:778-786

This SLR reviewed data on pharmacological treatment of PsA. Findings informed the 2019 EULAR taskforce when updating recommendations for PsA management. Overall, no new safety signals were reported. Encouragingly, LTEs of JAKi did not report any venous thromboembolic events or PEs. Efficacy was demonstrated for a range of bDMARD and tsDMARD therapies in various disease domains. Efficacy varied between PsA manifestations and between therapies. Observational data demonstrated efficacy when switchi...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Safety

Translated by: Igor Koz

COVID-19 Revisando las vías inflamatorias en artritis

Schett G, Manger B, Simon D, Caporali R.
Nat Rev Rheumatol 2020 doi.org/10.1038/s41584-020-0451-z

This review investigates the potential implications of COVID-19 on the field of rheumatology. Common pathways in COVID-19 and RA have provided rationale for the trial of DMARD therapies in treatment of severe COVID-19 infections. Safety considerations of RA patients undergoing immunomodulatory treatments are reviewed. Recommendations suggest that RA patients should continue DMARD treatment, whereas glucocorticoid use could be deleterious in COVID-19 infection and should be considered carefully, ...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling

Translated by: Igor Koz

Eficiencia Comparada de los Agentes anti-factor de Necrosis Tumoral, Biológicos con un Modo de Acción Alternativo y Tofacitinib en una coorte observacional de pacientes con artritis reumatoide en Suiza

Finckh A, Tellenbach C, Herzog L, Scherer A, Moeller B, Ciurea A, von Muehlenen I, Gabay C, Kyburz D, Brulhart L, Müller R, Hasler P, Zufferey P.
RMD Open 2020;6:e001174 doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2020-001174

This nested cohort study found that, in Switzerland, there was a generally limited overall drug maintenance for b/tsDMARD options in RA. Using data from SCQM-RA – a prospective longitudinal registry, overall maintenance (drug survival) was calculated for TNFi, bDMARD-OMA or JAKi in patients with RA. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, there was a higher hazard of drug discontinuation with TNFi compared with tofacitinib; no significant difference was observed between non-TNF ...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Real World, Efficacy

Translated by: Igor Kos

Comparación de la Regulación de la Señalización de Citoquinas Mediada por Baricitinib, Upadactinib y Tofacitinib en Subpoblaciones de Leucocitos Humanos

McInnes IB, Byers NL, Higgs RE, Lee J, Macias WL, Na S, Ortmann RA, Rocha G, Rooney TP, Wehrman T, Zhang X, Zuckerman SH, Taylor PC.
Arthritis Res Ther. 2019 Aug 2;21(1):183

Different JAKinibs modulated distinct cytokine pathways to varying degrees, and no agent potently or continuously inhibited an individual cytokine signalling pathway throughout the dosing interval. This study aimed to compare the in vitro cellular pharmacology of BARI, TOF and UPA across relevant leukocyte subpopulations, coupled with their in vivo PK, to determine their effects on distinct cytokine pathways. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were incubated with differen...

Keywords: JAK, Upadacitinib, Preclinical, Selectivity

Translated by: Igor Koz

Percepciones patogenéticas del tratamiento de la Artritis Reumatoide

McInnes I, Schett G.
Lancet 2017;389:2328–37 DOI 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31472-1

This review paper examines the understanding gained from looking at the effects of specific immune interventions in the treatment of RA. The introduction of novel IL-6 agents has provided the ideal opportunity to explore the distinct effect of cytokine inhibition, as opposed to receptor inhibition, at the molecular level. Mechanistic insights into TNF could also be obtained in the future with advanced molecular and informatics approaches, and future biopsy studies will be important to explore t...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Preclinical, MOA

Translated by: Igor Kos

The pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety of baricitinib, an oral JAK 1/2 inhibitor, in healthy volunteers

Shi JG, Chen X, Lee F, Emm T, Scherle PA, Lo Y, Punwani N, Williams WV, Yeleswaram S.
Mod J Clin Pharmacol. 2014 Dec;54(12):1354-61. doi: 10.1002/jcph.354.

Current biologic therapies for RA, such as biologic cytokine inhibitors, which selectively target inflammatory molecules with an exquisite degree of specificity, are not clinically effective in all patients with rheumatoid arthritis. As such, there remains an unmet clinical need for more effective and better tolerated therapies. Baricitinib (LY3009104, also previously known as INCB028050) is a potent and selective small molecule inhibitor of JAK1/2, which play an important role in cytokine signa...

The JAK inhibitor tofacitinib suppresses synovial JAK1-STAT signalling in rheumatoid arthritis

Boyle DL, Soma K, Hodge J, Kavanaugh A, Mandel D, Mease P, Shurmur R, Singhal AK, Wei N, Rosengren S, Kaplan I, Krishnaswami S, Luo Z, Bradley J, Firestein GS.
Ann Rheum Dis. 2014 Nov 14. pii: annrheumdis-2014-206028. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-206028. [Epub ahead of print]

Targeting intracellular pathways such as JAK/STAT represents a novel approach to the treatment of RA. Tofacitinib is an oral JAK inhibitor, proven to be effective in the treatment of RA, yet the pathways affected by tofacitinib and the effects on gene expression in situ are unknown. In this study, Boyle et al. tested the hypothesis that tofacitinib targets cytokine signalling critical to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid synovitis by investigating tofacitinib effects on synovial pathobiology. A...

Inhibition of TAK1 and/or JAK can rescue impaired chondrogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells in osteoarthritis-like conditions

Van Beuningen HM, de Vries-van Melle ML, Vitters El et al.
Tissue Engineering Part A doi:10/1089/ten.TEA.2013.0553

As it is nonvascularized and noninnervated, articular cartilage has a limited capacity to repair which presents a major clinical problem. In order to circumvent this inability to repair, stem cells can be placed into the joint or stimulated within the bone marrow. However, as the cartilage requiring repair is often in diseased joints, the factors involved in the disease state are potentially non-beneficial to the chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells. In this study van Beuningen et al. invest...

Inhibición de PI3K-δ y PI3K-γ mediante IPI-145 anula las respuestas inmunes y suprime la actividad en modelos de enfermedades autoinmunes e inflamatorias

Winkler DG, Faia KL, DiNitto JP et al.
Chemistry and Biology Nov 13 20, 1364-1374

Phosphoinositide-3 kinases (PI3K) are cell signalling proteins that act as a central node for relaying signals from cell surface receptors and downstream mediators. Specifically they phosphorylate phosphatidylinositol to phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP3). This acts a docking site for signalling proteins, leading to the activation of downstream effectors such as BTK. Therefore, inhibition of the PI3K-d and PI3K-? isoforms (PI3K-a and PI3K-ß demonstrated embryonic lethality in ...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Preclinical, MOA

La inhibición selectiva de la tirosina quinasa esplénica (SYK) con un nuevo inhibidor de molécula pequeña biodisponible oralmente, RO9021, afecta diferentes respuestas inmunes innatas y adaptativas: implicaciones para los inhibidores de la SYK en el tratamiento de enfermedades autoinmunes

Liao C, Hsu J, Kim Y et al.
Arthritis Research and Therapy 2013 15:R146

Spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) has already been described as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Previously the SYK inhibitor fostamatinib was in clinical development for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, but has since been suspended. However, investigation into SYK inhibition continues with RO2091, a novel ATP-competitive inhibitor of SYK with reasonable selectivity, potency and oral bioavailability which has been shown to suppress various innate and adap...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Preclinical, Selectivity

STA-21, un inhibidor prometedor de STAT3 que regula recíprocamente los linfocitos Th17 y Treg, inhibe la osteogénesis y alivia la inflamación autoinmune

Park JS, Kwok SK, Lim MA et al.
Arthritis and Rheumatism doi: 10.1002/art.38305

STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) is the major transcription factor in the differentiation of Th17 cells, which along with IL-17 are significant in the development of RA. STA-21 is a new small molecule with significant inhibitory effects on STAT3, impeding DNA binding activity, dimerization and STAT3-dependent luciferase activity. While the effect of STA-21 in RA has not been fully determined, it has been hypothesised that STA-21 will suppress arthritis in animal models ...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Preclinical, MOA

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

Propuesta para una nueva nomenclatura de medicamentos antirreumáticos modificadores de la enfermedad

Smolen JS et al.
Ann Rheum Dis 2013. doi: 10.1136/annrhuemdis-2013-204317

With the recent emergence of new therapeutics for rheumatoid arthritis, new nomenclature for disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may be needed to more accurately describe the new agents. Currently, DMARDs are divided into two broad groups: synthetic DMARDs (sDMARDs) and biological DMARDs (bDMARDs). The authors propose dividing synthetic DMARDs into conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) which would encompass traditional DMARDs (e.g. methotrexate, leflunomide), and targeted synthetic...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling

Inhibición de la tirosina cinasa esplénica en el tratamiento de la artritis reumatoide

Nijjar JS, Tindell A, McInnes ID and Siebert S.
Rheumatology 2013;52:1556–1562 doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ket225

Both the innate and adaptive immune responses are targeted by current RA treatments, but these treatments do not achieve consistent sustained disease remission. Protein kinase inhibitors represent a promising new therapeutic target, owing to their influence on downstream signalling and oral bioavailability. Fostamatinib (R788) has shown ACR20 responses of 67–72% in MTX inadequate responder patients at doses of 100mg bd and 150mg bd. However, the results in biologic non-responder patients w...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Preclinical, MOA

Farmacocinética de fostamatinib, un inhibidor de la tirosina quinasa esplénica (SYK) en sujetos humanos sanos después de su administración oral individual y múltiple en tres estudios de fase I

Baluom M, Grossbard EB, Mant T, Lau DTW.
Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2013 Jul;76(1):78–88

Fostamatinib (R778) is a prodrug designed to deliver the active metabolite R406 which is an inhibitor of SYK and is currently under investigation for treatment of RA. The three clinical trials, conducted in healthy subjects, included two ascending dose studies and a formulation study. The first was a single ascending dose of R406, from 80-600mg, the second was a single and multiple dose study of fostamatinib in aqueous solution with single doses from 80-400mg and multiple doses of 160mg twice da...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Preclinical, PK-PD

Administración oral de GLPG0259, un inhibidor de la MAPKAPK5, un nuevo objetivo para el tratamiento de la artritis reumatoide: un estudio de fase II, aleatorizado, doble ciego, controlado con placebo, multicéntrico

Westhovens R, Keyser FD, Rekalov D, et al.
Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 May; 72(5):741–4

This phase2 trial assessed the efficacy of GLPG0259, a first-in-class ATP-competitive inhibitor of MAPKAPK5. The trail involved 31 patients with active RA and an inadequate response MTX. Patients received either 50 mg/day GLPG0259 with MTX or a placebo with MTX (patients randomised 2:1) for 12 weeks with the primary efficacy variable being ACR 20 response at week 12. Analysis showed that 5 patients (26.3%) in the GLPG0259 group and 3 patients (27.3%) in the placebo group achieved ACR 20 at 12 we...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Clinical, Phase 2

La inflamación y erosión ósea se suprimen en modelos de artritis reumatoide después del tratamiento con un inhibidor novedoso de la Sky

Pine PR, Chang B, Schoettler N, et al.
Clinical Immunology 2007; 124:244-57

This study investigated the capacity of the novel oral spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitor R406, and its prodrug R788 (fostamatinib), to suppress the reversed passive Arthrus reaction (RPA) and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in rats. R406 (0.1, 1, 5 and 10 mg/kg) and R788 (10 and 30 mg/kg) reduced the cutaneous RPA reaction and inflammatory oedema in a dose-dependent manner, with statistically significant reductions in extravascular leakage and tissue swelling (72% reduction with R406 10 mg...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Preclinical, MOA

Un inhibidor oral de la tirosina quinasa esplénica (Syk) para la artritis reumatoide

Weinblatt ME, Kavanaugh A, Genovese MC, et al.
The New England Journal of Medicine 2010; 363(14):1303-12

This is the first phase 2 study to be published for spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitor R788 (fostamatinib). This phase 2 study ingestigated the efficacy and safety of fostamatinib in patients with active RA despite long-term treatment with methotrexate. In this 6-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, patients were randomised to receive two doses of R788 (100 mg twice daily or 150 mg once daily) or placebo once or twice daily. Significantly more patients on R788 achieved ACR 20 respo...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Clinical, Phase 2

Un inhibidor oral de la quinasa Syk en el tratamiento de la artritis reumatoide: Un estudio de fase II aleatorizado, controlado con placebo de 3 meses en pacientes con artritis reumatoide activa que no respondieron a agentes biológicos

Genovese MC, Kavanaugh A, Weinblatt ME, et al.
Arthritis & Rheumatism 2011; 63(2):337-45

This was the first phase 2 study to be published investigating the efficacy and safety of the spleen kinase (Syk) inhibitor R788 (fostamatinib) in patients with refractory rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-month trial, patients with active RA on stable background treatment (excluding biologics) were randomised to receive 100 mg R788 or placebo twice daily. Differences in ACR20 responses were significant at week 6 (p=0.003), but not th...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Clinical, Phase 2

Efectos de fostamatinib (R788), un inhibidor oral de la tirosina quinasa esplénica, en la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en pacientes con artritis reumatoide: análisis de resultados reportados por los pacientes de un estudio aleatorizado, doble ciego, controlado con placebo

Weinblatt ME, Kavanaugh A, Genovese MC, et al.
The Journal of Rheumatology 2013; 40(3):369-78

This phase 2 clinical trial assessed the influence of fostamatinib on patient reported outcomes (PROs) in 457 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and an inadequate response to methotrexate (MTX). Patients received either placebo or fostamatinib 100 mg twice daily or 150 mg once daily (1:1:1) for 24 weeks in addition to their baseline MTX. Patients taking fostamatinib 100 mg twice daily had statistically significant improvements in health-related quality of life scores for pain, p...

Keywords: Cytokine Signalling, Clinical, Phase 2