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. 1999 Nov;58(Suppl 1):I56–I60. doi: 10.1136/ard.58.2008.i56

Anti-tumour necrosis factor specific antibody (infliximab) treatment provides insights into the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis

R Maini, P Taylor, E Paleolog, P Charles, S Ballara, F Brennan, M Feldmann
PMCID: PMC1766574  PMID: 10577974

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Figure 1  .

Figure 1  

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CRP and ESR measurements in a randomised placebo controlled trial of infliximab in RA. Patients were treated on day 0 with a single, two hour infusion of either placebo (circle), 1 mg/kg infliximab (diamond) or 10 mg/kg infliximab (triangle). Values are means of 24 patients at each point (25 for 1 mg/kg group). * p < 0.05; † p < 0.01; ‡ p < 0.001. Reproduced with modification from Lancet 1994;344:1105-10 by kind permission of the editor.

Figure 2  .

Figure 2  

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Effect of infliximab on circulating IL6 measurements in a randomised placebo controlled trial of infliximab in RA. Patients were treated on day 0 with a single, two hour infusion of either placebo (circle), 1 mg/kg infliximab (diamond) or 10 mg/kg infliximab (triangle). A detailed time/response profile on day 0 and 1 is shown on the left, with the mean sampling times indicated on the figure. Changes in circulating IL6 in the same three patient groups over the longer term are shown on the right. Each point represents the median circulating IL6 (pg/ml) concentrations. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001 compared with placebo by ANOVA. Reproduced from J Immunol 1999;163:1521−8 by kind permission of the editor.

Figure 3  .

Figure 3  

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Decreases in (A) serum E selectin concentration and (B) serum ICAM-1 concentration after infliximab infusion in a randomised placebo controlled trial of infliximab in RA. Patients were treated on day 0 with a single, two hour infusion of either placebo (circle), 1 mg/kg infliximab (diamond) or 10 mg/kg infliximab (triangle). Values are expressed relative to median pre-infusion values (100%) in placebo treated (n = 24), 1 mg/kg (n = 23) and 10 mg/kg (n = 21) of infliximab treated patients. Significance was determined versus change in placebo treated group at different time points by Mann-Whitney U test: † = p < 0.05; †† = p < 0.01; ††† = p < 0.001. Reproduced with modification from Arthritis Rheum 1996;39:1082-91 by kind permission of the editor.

Figure 4  .

Figure 4  

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Changes in circulating lymphocyte counts after infliximab infusion in a randomised placebo controlled trial of infliximab in RA. Values are the median counts in placebo treated (circle) (n = 24), 1 mg/kg (diamond) (n = 23) and 10 mg/kg (triangle) (n = 21) of infliximab treated patients. Circulating numbers of lymphocytes in patients with active RA were measured before and after treatment. Significance was versus change in placebo treated group at different time points by Mann-Whitney U test: † = p < 0.05; †† = p < 0.01; ††† = p < 0.001. Reproduced with modification from Arthritis Rheum 1996;39:1082-91 by kind permission of the editor.

Figure 5  .

Figure 5  

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(A) Decrease in serum VEGF concentration after a single infusion of infliximab in a randomised placebo controlled trial of infliximab in RA. Serum VEGF levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in 69 patients with active RA who received a single infusion of either placebo or infliximab (indicated by arrow). Values are the median counts in placebo treated (circle), 1 mg/kg (diamond) and 10 mg/kg (triangle) of infliximab treated patients. Values were expressed as the % change from preinfusion for each patient, before calculation of median changes for each treatment group. Data were analysed by Mann-Whitney U test for comparison between treatment groups († = p < 0.05; †† = p < 0.01; ††† = p < 0.001). p Values for comparisons between multiple groups were adjusted using the Bonferroni correction. (B) Correlation between changes in serum VEGF concentrations and changes in swollen joint scores. Kendall's coefficient of rank correlation, calculated using % change in serum VEGF and swollen joint scores three weeks after infusion of infliximab is 0.245 (p < 0.01). Reproduced with modification from Arthritis Rheum 1998;41:1258-65 by kind permission of the editor.

Figure 6  .

Figure 6  

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MMP-1 and MMP-3 levels are decreased after infliximab treatment in a randomised placebo controlled trial of infliximab in RA. MMP-1 and MMP-3 levels were determined in serum by a double antibody sandwich ELISA in placebo (circle) (n = 21), 1 mg/kg (diamond) (n = 19), 10 mg/kg (triangle) (n = 17) infliximab treated RA patients before infusion (day 0) and 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after infusion. Values are expressed relative to pre-infusion values (100%). Statistical analysis between the infliximab treated groups and placebo at day 7, 14, 21 and 28 was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test († = p < 0.05; †† = p < 0.01; ††† = p < 0.001). Reproduced with modification from Br J Rheumatol 1997;36:643-50 by kind permission of the editor.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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