Targeting interleukin-17 in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis?

MedLinx just has sent me an article on IL-17 by H. Kellner, which surprised me, as H. Kellner is one of the international known investigators of secukinumab.

H. Kellner presented an article: “Targeting interleukin-17 in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: rationale and clinical potential”. In his article he discusses: “Clinical and experimental evidence suggest that interleukin-17A (IL-17A; also known as IL-17) is an attractive therapeutic target in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Rheumatoid synovial tissue produces IL-17A, which causes cartilage and bone degradation in synovial and bone explants.” And: “Several IL-17A blockers, including the anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibodies secukinumab and ixekizumab, and the anti-IL-17 receptor subunit A monoclonal antibody brodalumab have been evaluated in phase II clinical trials.” Link: http://tab.sagepub.com/content/5/3/141.abstract?rss=1  

Ixekizumab: the recent EULAR 2013 Meeting in Madrid didn’t show lots of new data. I had the idea, that the two studies were published to keep a flickering light burning. For more see: http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/06/ixekizumab-at-eular-2013.html  

Secukinumab: At the last ACR Meeting (2012 in Washington) there have only been studies on secukinumab in ankylsosing spondylitis. Link: http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/12/secukinumab-at-acr-2012-in-washington.html. There had been a study on secukinimab in rheumatoid arthritis patients by M. Genovese, H. Kellner and colleagues at the 2012 EULAR Meeting, in which secukinumab didn’t meet the endpoint. See more: http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/06/secukinumab-anti-il17a-monoclonal.html.

Brodalumab: This drug showed a mild effect according to the presented study. See for more: http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/06/brodalumab-at-eular-2013.html. The study by P. Mease has been in patients with psoriatic arthritis.

All in all I doubt that we’ll hear much more about IL-17 in rheumatoid arthritis, but these drugs might be effective in psoriatic arthritis and/or spondyloarthropathies.