Do the drug doses of conventional synthetic DMARDs used for the treatment of biologic/targeted-synthetic DMARDs naive rheumatoid arthritis patients affect QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus test results?

ÖZSOY Z., ÖZDEMİR A., EKİCİ M., BİLGİN E., KILIÇ L., KİRAZ S., ...Daha Fazla

Rheumatology International, cilt.43, sa.8, ss.1445-1451, 2023 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 43 Sayı: 8
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s00296-023-05320-7
  • Dergi Adı: Rheumatology International
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Veterinary Science Database
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1445-1451
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Rheumatoid arthritis, Latent tuberculosis reactivation, Immunosuppressive drugs, Biologic, targeted-synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatismal drugs, Interferon-gamma release assays, QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

We aimed to obtain the effects of immunosuppressive doses on the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) test results in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients. Besides this, the impact of the TB2 tube in QFT-Plus test was also investigated. This study included RA patients registered to HURBIO and were screened via QFT-Plus test for latent tuberculosis between January 2018 and March 2021, before the initiation of treatment of biologic/targeted-synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatismal drugs (b/ts-DMARDs). Patients using methotrexate ≥ 10 mg or leflunomide (any dose) or steroids (≥ 7.5 mg prednisolone) at the time of QFT-Plus test were classified as the “high dose” group and the rest of the patients constituted the “low dose” group. The study included 534 RA patients; 353 [66.1%] in the high-dose group and 181 [33.9%] in the low-dose group. While QFT-Plus test was positive in 10.5% (37/353) patients in the high-dose group, it was positive in 20.4% (37/181) patients in the low-dose group (p < 0.001). The percentage of QFT-Plus indeterminate results were similar (around 2%) in both groups. The contribution of the TB2 tube to QFT-Plus test positivity was 6.89%. During a median (inter-quartile range) follow-up period of 23 (7–38) months under treatment of b/ts-DMARDs, latent TB reactivation was not observed. Primer active tuberculosis disease developed in two patients. Positive test results of Interferon-Gamma Release Assays (IGRAs) could decrease as immunosuppressive treatment doses increase in patients with RA and addition of the TB2 tube could increase test sensitivity.