ObjectiveTo study the short-term efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in treating patients with active and resistant rheumatoid arthritis (RRA). MethodForty patients with RRA treated with tocilizumab between October 2013 and October 2014 were included in our study. The combined drug treatment was continued with the addition of tocilizumab 8 mg/kg per four weeks. The clinical responses and laboratory parameters were evaluated at the baseline, week 1, 4, 12, 16 and 24, and week 4 and 8 of tocilizumab withdrawal. ResultsTocilizumab was effective for several clinical lesions and laboratorial parameters at all time points. With the extension of treatment, the effect was better. At week 1, the visual analogue scale score of pain by patients, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein (CRP), disease activity score 28 (DAS28) and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) results decreased significantly (P<0.05). At week 12, the inflammatory biomarkers of all patients were normal, and 62.9% (22/35) of the patients achieved American College of Rheumatology (ACR)20, and 28.6% (10/35) of the patients achieved ACR50. At week 24, twelve patients achieved ACR50 and low activity (DAS28 score≤3.2), and the score of HAQ was minimum (3.1±1.6). The score of HAQ was significantly different between week 24 and the baseline (20.2±6.7) (P<0.01). All parameters were not significantly changed at week 4 of tocilizumab withdrawal compared with those before the withdrawal. Most parameters increased significantly at week 8 of tocilizumab withdrawal compared with week 4 of withdrawal (P<0.01) except for swollen joints, CRP, DAS28 and HAQ. The main adverse reactions were abnormal hepatic function and dyslipidemia followed by leukopenia. Only one patient stopped treatment because of adverse reaction. ConclusionsTocilizumab has rapid efficacy onset and good safety. After tocilizumab withdrawal, the efficacy can be maintained for 4 to 8 weeks.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab for treating active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsSeventy-seven patients with active RA who treated from November 2013 to April 2015 in the Outpatient Department of Rheumatology in West China Hospital of Sichuan Universiy with follow-up data were involved. Their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. Tocilizumab was infused every 4 weeks at a dose of 8 mg/kg and concomitant use of other disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) was allowed. Activity and efficacy were evaluated by Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28) and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response.ResultAfter the treatment, the DAS28 devreased from the baseline 6.88±1.09 to 4.99±1.53 (4th week), 4.31±1.37 (8th week), 3.74±1.15 (12th week) and 2.66±0.68 (24th week) (P<0.05). The disease activity level assessed by DAS28 was 11.1%, and the low activity was 9.5%, and the values were 10.5%, 32.2% and 66.6%, 16.7% (P<0.05) respectively at the 12th and 24th week. EULAR good/moderate response rates were 17.5%/76.2%, 39.0%/57.4% and 66.7%/33.3% at 8, 12 and 24 weeks. The differences in the decline over time in tender joint count, swollen joint count visual analogue score, Health Assessment Questionnaire score, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein before and after the treatment were statistically significant (P<0.05). Adverse event was found in 21 cases who were alleviated after the treatment (1 anaphylactic reaction, and the other were mild).ConclusionTocilizumab is safe and effective in treatment of active RA patients.
Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) is an autoimmune disease, and there is no specific treatment drug. Glucocorticoid (GC) therapy is still the first-line therapy for patients with moderate to severe GO. Targeted therapy may become a novel treatment due to GC’s adverse drug reactions. As the in-depth study of the pathogenesis of GO, many targeted drugs with randomized clinical trial (RCT) treatment have appeared in recent years, such as anti-insulin growth factor 1 receptor (teprotumumab), anti-CD20 (rituximab) and anti-interleukin(IL)-6 receptor (tocilizumab). It is worth noting that teprotumumab has been approved by US Food and Drug Administration in recently, and may quickly become the first-line therapy for GO. The anti-B cell stimulating factor (belimumab) which is undergoing RCT is waiting for the result of RCT to reveal. Anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (such as etanercept, adalimumab, and infliximab) which only used in case reports requires RCT further verification. In addition, anti-IL-17/IL-23, thyroid stimulating hormone receptor, CD40 targets and target therapies may have potential clinical value for GO due to the successful use of these target therapies in vitro experiments and other autoimmune diseases. This paper focus on the progress of targeted therapy of GO in China and abroad in recent years.