Assessment of antibodies to double-stranded DNA induced in rheumatoid arthritis patients following treatment with infliximab, a monoclonal antibody to tumor necrosis factor α: Findings in open-label and randomized placebo-controlled trials

✍ Scribed by P. J. Charles; R. J. T. Smeenk; J. De Jong; M. Feldmann; R. N. Maini

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 187 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/1529-0131(200011)43:11<2383::aid-anr2>3.0.co;2-d

✦ Synopsis

Objective. To compare the incidence of antidouble-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving either single or multiple doses of a chimeric anti-tumor necrosis factor ␣ (anti-TNF␣) antibody or placebo infusions, with or without methotrexate, in open-label, randomized, placebo-controlled trials. Methods. Multiple sera obtained from 156 patients before and after treatment with infliximab and from 37 patients treated with placebo infusions were tested for anti-dsDNA antibodies by 3 methods: Crithidia luciliae indirect immunofluorescence test (CLIFT), a commercial Farr assay (Ortho Diagnostics radioimmunoassay [RIA]) in which the antigen source is mammalian DNA, and a Farr assay employing 125 Ilabeled circular plasmid DNA (Central Laboratory of The Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service [CLB] RIA). Patients with positive findings on the CLIFT were also tested for antibodies to histones (H1-H5) and chromatin and for IgM rheumatoid factors (IgM-RFs).

Results. None of the RA patients had a serum sample that was positive for anti-dsDNA antibodies by the CLIFT prior to infliximab therapy. Of the 22 patients who developed a positive CLIFT result, 11 (7%