Impact of short-term therapies with biologics on prothrombotic biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis.

• BACKGROUND: Imbalance of haemostasis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) contributes to future risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Prothrombotic molecules, e.g. fibrinogen, D-dimer, and tPA are elevated in plasma of RA patients, being associated to CVD. There is no imformation about the influence of biological drugs, e.g. anti-CD20 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antibodies on these prothrombotic molecules. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether anti-TNF and anti-CD20 therapies modify the profiles of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with RA. METHODS: The expression of prothrombotic molecules in plasma was investigated in 10 RA patients before and after treatment with TNF-alpha antibodies and in another 12 RA patients before and after anti-CD20 treatment. RESULTS: Both anti-TNF and anti-CD20 infusions gave rise to clear clinical improvement. However, only anti-CD20 infusion significantly (p=0.05) reduced concentration of fibrinogen (p=0.05), D-dimer (p<0.001), as well as tPA levels (p<0.01). In contrast, in TNF antibody treated patients only tPA levels were significantly decreased following the treatment (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Infusion of CD20 antibodies to the patients with active RA led to a clearly reduced plasma levels of predictors of CVD indicating that this treatment, apart from its anti-inflammatory properties, may reduce the risk for future CVD in RA.

Nyckelord

Adult

Aged

Antibodies

therapeutic use

Antibodies

Monoclonal

therapeutic use

Antigens

CD20

immunology

Antirheumatic Agents

therapeutic use

Arthritis

Rheumatoid

blood

drug therapy

C-Reactive Protein

metabolism

Cardiovascular Diseases

Dose-Response Relationship

Drug

Female

Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products

metabolism

Fibrinogen

metabolism

Humans

Male

Middle Aged

Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1

blood

Risk Factors

Tissue Plasminogen Activator

blood

Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

antagonists & inhibitors

immunology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)