You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Clinical and epidemiological research
Immunogenicity does not influence treatment with etanercept in patients with ankylosing spondylitis
  1. M K de Vries1,
  2. I E van der Horst-Bruinsma1,
  3. M T Nurmohamed1,3,
  4. L A Aarden2,
  5. S O Stapel2,
  6. M J L Peters1,3,
  7. J C van Denderen3,
  8. B A C Dijkmans1,
  9. G J Wolbink2,3
  1. 1
    VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  2. 2
    Sanquin Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  3. 3
    Jan van Breemen Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  1. Mirjam K de Vries, VU University Medical Center, Rheumatology Department, Room 3A-64, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands; mk.devries{at}vumc.nl

Abstract

Background: Immunogenicity, specifically the onset of antibodies against tumour necrosis factor (TNF) blocking agents, seems to play an important role in non-response to treatment with these drugs.

Objectives: To assess the relation of clinical response of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) to etanercept with etanercept levels, and the presence of antibodies to etanercept.

Methods: Patients with AS were treated with etanercept 25 mg twice weekly, according to the international Assessment in Ankylosing Spondylitis (ASAS) working group consensus statement. Sera were collected at baseline and after 3 and 6 months of treatment. Clinical response was defined as a 50% improvement or as an absolute improvement of 2 points on a (0–10 scale) Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) score. Functional etanercept levels were measured by a newly developed ELISA, measuring the binding of etanercept to TNF. Antibodies against etanercept were measured with a two-site assay and antigen binding test. Clinical data were used to correlate disease activity with serum etanercept levels.

Results: In all, 53 consecutive patients were included. After 3 months of treatment 40 patients (76%) fulfilled the response criteria. Mean etanercept levels were 2.7 mg/litre and 3.0 mg/litre after 3 and 6 months respectively. Characteristics and etanercept levels of responders and non-responders were similar. No antibodies to etanercept were detected with any of the assays.

Conclusion: Etanercept levels of responders and non-responders were similar and no antibodies to etanercept were detected with any of the assays. This study indicates that etanercept is much less immunogenic compared with the other TNF-blocking agents.

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.2008.089979

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Competing interests: None declared.

    • Funding: This study was partially financed by Wyeth. In addition, this investigation was also facilitated by the Clinical Research Bureau of the Jan van Breemen Institute, which receives financial support from the Dutch Arthritis Foundation.

    • Ethics approval: The study was approved by the medical ethical committees of the VU University Medical Center and the Jan van Breemen Institute.

    • Patient consent: Informed consent was obtained for the publication of the details in this report.