Key clinical point: Guselkumab significantly reduced serum levels of acute phase proteins and T-helper cell effector cytokines in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and achieved a range comparable to those in healthy controls (HCs).
Major finding: Treatment with guselkumab significantly reduced serum levels of acute-phase C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 by week 4 and continued to decline over week 24, whereas no significant change was observed with placebo ( P less than .05). At 24 weeks, IL-17A and IL-17F levels with either dose of guselkumab were not significantly different from that of HCs.
Study details: Findings are from phase 3 DISCOVER-1 and DISCOVER-2 studies involving 300 patients with PsA who were randomly assigned to subcutaneous guselkumab or placebo. A group of 34 HCs were procured independently for the DISCOVER clinical studies.
Disclosures: The study was supported by the Janssen Research and Development. S Siebert and I B McInnes reported receiving research grants, consulting fees, and/or honoraria from various pharmaceutical companies including Janssen. Eight authors declared being employees and shareholders of Janssen Research & Development.
Source: Sweet K et al. RMD Open. 2021 May 19. doi: 10.1136/rmdopen-2021-001679 .