The effect of abatacept on blood biomarkers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective: to estimate changes in the cytokine profile in patients receiving abatacept (ABC). Subjects and methods. The investigation enrolled 44 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had been unsuccessfully treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and biological agents. A control group included 16 healthy donors. The majority of patients were women who were positive for rheumatoid factor (RF) (80%) and antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACCP) (79.5%); the mean age was 49.6+13.9 years; the median disease duration was 2 [1.4; 3] years with high RA activity (mean DAS28, 5.2+0.8). The serum concentrations of interleukin (IL) 1ß, IL-6, IL-17AF, tumor necrosis factor-а (TNF-а), VEGF-A, IP-10, and YKL-40 were measured by enzyme immunoassay before and 6 months after ABC therapy. Disease activity was assessed using DAS28 every 3 months. ABC was infused intravenously according to the standard regimen. Results and discussion. The patients with RA as compared with the control group had significantly elevated levels of IL-6 (2.4 [1.1; 6.4] and 0.7 [0.62; 1.0] pg/ml; p=0.0002), YKL-40 (97 [68.4; 97.9] and 64 [52.4; 107.5] pg/ml; p=0.03), IP-10 (21 [12.9; 49.8] and 14 [9.2; 15.2] pg/ml, respectively; p=0.005). ABC caused a significant decrease in RA activity after 3 months of therapy (p