Effects of gevokizumab on glycemia and inflammatory markers in type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Metabolic activation of the innate immune system governed by interleukin (IL)-1ß contributes to ß-cell failure in type 2 diabetes. Gevokizumab is a novel, human-engineered monoclonal anti-IL-1ß antibody. We evaluated the safety and biological activity of gevokizumab in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In a placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study, a total of 98 patients were randomly assigned to placebo (17 subjects) or gevokizumab (81 subjects) at increasing doses and dosing schedules. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the safety profile of gevokizumab in type 2 diabetes. The secondary objectives were to assess pharmacokinetics for different dose levels, routes of administration, and regimens and to assess biological activity. RESULTS: The study drug was well tolerated with no serious adverse events. There was one hypoglycemic event whereupon concomitant insulin treatment had to be reduced. Clearance of gevokizumab was consistent with that for a human IgG(2), with a half-life of 22 days. In the combined intermediate-dose group (single doses of 0.03 and 0.1 mg/kg), the mean placebo-corrected decrease in glycated hemoglobin was 0.11, 0.44, and 0.85% after 1, 2 (P = 0.017), and 3 (P = 0.049) months, respectively, along with enhanced C-peptide secretion, increased insulin sensitivity, and a reduction in C-reactive protein and spontaneous and inducible cytokines. CONCLUSIONS: This novel IL-1ß-neutralizing antibody improved glycemia, possibly via restored insulin production and action, and reduced inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes. This therapeutic agent may be able to be used on a once-every-month or longer schedule.

Interleukin-1 blockade by anakinra improves clinical symptoms in patients with neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease.

Neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID) is a rare, childhood-onset disease that is characterized by chronic, systemic inflammation. The purpose of this report is to describe the effects of interleukin-1 (IL-1) blockade on the clinical symptoms of 2 patients with NOMID. At the time of this report, the patients had been treated with anakinra (Kineret), a recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist, for 1.5 and 2 years, respectively. Both patients demonstrated rapid improvement in clinical symptoms and laboratory markers of inflammation. The use of anakinra in these patients seemed to be effective, without any safety concerns. These observations suggest that IL-1 plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of this inflammatory disease, and that blockade with anakinra should be further studied as a treatment for patients with NOMID and related disorders.

The safety of anakinra in high-risk patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: six-month observations of patients with comorbid conditions.

OBJECTIVE: To determine in a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial the safety profile of daily anakinra (Kineret) use in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and concurrent comorbid conditions. METHODS: In 169 centers in 9 countries, 1,414 patients with active RA were randomly assigned to receive either anakinra (100 mg) or placebo treatment (4:1 anakinra-to-placebo allocation ratio), with study drug administered by daily subcutaneous injection for 6 months. The current post hoc analysis assessed baseline comorbid conditions, and patients were considered at high risk for the occurrence of adverse events if they had a history of at least one of the following: cardiovascular event, pulmonary event, central nervous system-related event, infection, diabetes, malignancy, or renal impairment. Within each treatment group (anakinra or placebo), incidence rates were summarized for serious adverse events, infectious events, and serious infectious events in high-risk patients and compared with these incidence rates in patients without comorbid conditions. RESULTS: The majority of patients in the trial had one or more comorbid conditions. In these high-risk patients, there were no differences in the incidence of serious adverse events or infectious events between treatment groups. The incidence of serious infectious events with anakinra use was similar between high-risk patients (2.5%) and the entire study population (2.1%) and was not attributable to any single comorbidity. CONCLUSION: Results of the analysis of adverse events in patients with active RA and coexisting comorbidities suggest that the favorable safety profile of anakinra is maintained in a high-risk patient population.

Rheumatic manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus.

Since July 1983, various rheumatic, musculoskeletal, or other immune disorders characterized by dysregulation have been associated with HIV and AIDS. Infections occur, but with a lower frequency than expected in a patient population with a disorder primarily characterized by significant cellular immune deficiencies. Reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, acute nonspecific arthritis, Sjögren syndrome, and inflammatory myositis have been reported. The initial reports of "acute painful joints," however, have not maintained prominence in the literature. A review of the literature over the past several years has reinforced the perception that the initial excitement over a possible association between HIV and AIDS and rheumatic or definable autoimmune disorders remains limited to a small segment of illnesses dominated by the reactive arthritidies.