Clinical efficacy of leflunomide in primary Sjogren's syndrome is associated with regulation of T-cell activity and upregulation of IL-7 receptor α expression

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Angela BikkerJ A G van Roon

Abstract

To investigate whether the immunomodulatory capacities of leflunomide are associated with clinical efficacy in the treatment of primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) in a phase II pilot study. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 13 primary SS patients were obtained at baseline and after 24 weeks of leflunomide treatment. Ex-vivo production of interleukin (IL) 1β and tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) and of interferon (IFN), IL-4, as well as TNFα ELISA measured production on T-cell and monocyte stimulation. In addition, the authors investigated the ability of leflunomide to influence systemic levels of inflammatory cytokines, as well as T-cell activation markers and the expression of IL-7 receptor α by flow cytometry. Correlations between changes in cytokine levels and changes in clinical response parameters were studied. Ex-vivo production of IL-1β and TNFα was decreased at 24 weeks in the whole patient group, whereas IFN and IL-4 production were not significantly changed. However, a significant decrease in T-cell-stimulated IFN and TNFα production was observed in clinical responders, but not in non-responders. Moreover, significant correlations were found between increased sialometry values and decreased IFN and TNFα production. I...Continue Reading

Citations

Sep 28, 2006·Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie·C Tomiak, T Dörner
Jul 17, 2013·Nature Reviews. Rheumatology·Gaëtane Nocturne, Xavier Mariette
Nov 30, 2013·Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinics of North America·Andres Pinto
Mar 18, 2020·International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases·Ting-Ting LiuAn-Mei Deng
Jan 24, 2014·Expert Review of Clinical Immunology·Maarten R HillenJoel A Van Roon
Sep 29, 2017·Rheumatology·Elizabeth J PriceUNKNOWN British Society for Rheumatology Standards, Guideline and Audit Working Group

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