Effectiveness of etanercept vs cyclophosphamide as treatment for patients with amyloid A amyloidosis secondary to rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatology, 08/10/2012
Clinical Article
Nakamura T et al. – Etanercept treatment was more effective than CYC treatment, and CRP, albumin and estimated glomerular filtration rate may be valuable biomarkers for analysis. The serum amyloid A 1.3 allele was not a factor affecting treatment in Japanese patients with amyloid A amyloidosis secondary to RA.
Methods- CYC and etanercept (ETN) were administered to 62 and 24 RA patients, respectively, who were confirmed with biopsy as having AA amyloidosis.
- The authors evaluated whether the SAA1.3 allele, a factor indicating genetic risk and poor prognosis of Japanese RA patients with AA amyloidosis, influenced treatments and retrospectively analysed the effectiveness of both agents via statistical methods.
- Two treatment groups were similar, except for the SAA1.3 genotype (P = 0.015) and duration of AA amyloidosis since diagnosis (P < 0.001).
- Also, patients given ETN had somewhat worse renal function, i.e. 24-h proteinuria (P = 0.02), at the initiation of treatment.
- ETN demonstrated greater effectiveness than CYC, as shown by significantly improved levels of serum CRP and serum albumin (both P < 0.01) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR; P = 0.032). ETN improved survival (P = 0.025), and the hazard ratios for the risk of death endpoint with eGFR and 24-h proteinuria were significant by P = 0.024 and P = 0.025, respectively.
- The SAA1.3 allele did not affect the response to medications in AA amyloidosis secondary to RA.
