Smartest Doc
Effect of hydroxychloroquine treatment on pro-inflammatory cytokines and disease activity in SLE patients: data from LUMINA (LXXV), a multiethnic US cohort
Lupus, 06/08/2012
Willis R et al. – Hydroxychloroquine therapy resulted in significant clinical improvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, which strongly correlated with reductions in IFN– α levels. This indicates an important role for the inhibition of endogenous TLR activation in the action of hydroxychloroquine in SLE and provides additional evidence for the importance of type I interferons in the pathogenesis of SLE. This study underscores the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of SLE.
Methods- Plasma/serum samples from SLE patients (n = 35) were evaluated at baseline and after hydroxychloroquine treatment.
- Disease activity was assessed using SLAM–R scores. Interferon (IFN)– α2, interleukin (IL)–1β, IL–6, IL–8, inducible protein (IP)–10, monocyte chemotactic protein–1, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–α and soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) levels were determined by a multiplex immunoassay.
- Anticardiolipin antibodies were evaluated using ELISA assays.
- Thirty–two frequency–matched plasma/serum samples from healthy donors were used as controls.
- Levels of IL–6, IP–10, sCD40L, IFN–α and TNF–α were significantly elevated in SLE patients versus controls.
- There was a positive but moderate correlation between SLAM–R scores at baseline and levels of IFN–α (p = 0.0546).
- Hydroxychloroquine therapy resulted in a significant decrease in SLAM–R scores (p = 0.0157), and the decrease in SLAM–R after hydroxychloroquine therapy strongly correlated with decreases in IFN–α (p = 0.0087).
