Mucocutaneous Involvement in Behçet's Disease: How Systemic Treatment Has Changed in the Last Decades and Future Perspectives

Exploring relief for Behçet's disease refractory oral ulcers: a comparison of TNF inhibitors versus apremilast

OBJECTIVES

Oral and genital ulcers are the hallmark manifestation of Behçet's disease (BD), significantly impacting patients' quality of life. Our study focuses on comparing the effectiveness and safety of TNF inhibitors (TNFis) and apremilast in controlling oral ulcers of BD, aiming to provide evidence-based guidance for physicians in selecting appropriate treatment modalities.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was performed on BD patients treated between December 2016 and December 2021 with TNFis or apremilast for refractory oral ulcers. The study assessed treatment response by the absence of oral ulcers at 3 and 6 months, with additional evaluations for genital ulcers and articular involvement.

RESULTS

The study included 78 patients, equally allocated between TNFis and apremilast treatments. Both groups showed significant oral ulcer reduction at 3 (P < 0.001) and 6 months (P = 0.01), with no significant difference between the treatments. Apremilast had a notable CS-sparing effect by the 3-month follow-up, persisting through 6 months. Both treatments were equally effective in reducing genital ulcers, with TNFis showing greater effectiveness in addressing articular involvement. Apremilast had a higher discontinuation rate due to gastrointestinal side effects.

CONCLUSION

TNFis and apremilast are both effective for treating BD refractory oral ulcers. While TNFis may offer broader benefits for other disease manifestations, apremilast is distinguished by its CS-sparing effect, especially for patients with a milder disease phenotype. Treatment selection should consider individual disease severity and clinical features to ensure a personalized and effective management strategy.

Candidate Drugs Screening for Behcet’s Disease Based on Bioinformatics Analysis and Mouse Experiments

Background

Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic immune disease that involves multiple systems. As the pathogenesis of BD is not clear, and new treatments are needed, we used bioinformatics to identify potential drugs and validated them in mouse models.

Methods

Behcet’s disease-related target genes and proteins were screened in the PubMed and UVEOGENE databases. The biological functions and pathways of the target genes were analyzed in detail by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by the STRING database, and hub genes were identified by the Cytoscape plug-in CytoHubba. Gene-drug interactions were identified from the DGIdb database. Experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) mice were used as an animal model for drug validation.

Results

A total of 249 target genes and proteins with significant differences in BD were screened, and the results of functional enrichment analysis suggested that these genes and proteins were more located on the cell membrane, involved in regulating the production of cytokines and affecting the activity of cytokines. They mainly regulated “Cytokine- Cytokine receptor interaction”, “Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)” and “IL-17 signaling Pathway”. In addition, 10 hub genes were obtained through PPI network construction and CytoHubba analysis, among which the top 3 hub genes were closely related to BD. The DGIdb analysis enriched seven drugs acting together on the top 3 hub genes, four of which were confirmed for the treatment of BD or its complications. There is no evidence in the research to support the results in omeprazole, rabeprazole, and celastrol. However, animal experiments showed that rabeprazole and celastrol reduced anterior chamber inflammation and retinal inflammation in EAU mice.

Conclusions

The functional analysis of genes and proteins related to BD, identification of hub genes, and validation of potential drugs provide new insights into the disease mechanism and potential for the treatment of BD.

Off-label use of anti-IL-1 drugs in rheumatic diseases

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) plays a key role in the pathogenesis of different rheumatic diseases. There are now several agents available on the market capable of blocking IL-1. The proven effectiveness and excellent safety of these drugs makes them a possible therapeutic option in the treatment of IL-1 driven diseases, when previous therapies are contraindicated or ineffective. This article discusses the European wide off-label use of these drugs for the treatment of rheumatic diseases.

Behçet: the syndrome

Behçet's syndrome (BS) is a systemic vasculitis characterized by a relapsing and remitting course. It can involve the skin, mucosa, joints, vessels (arteries and/or veins), eyes, and nervous and gastrointestinal systems, and so is referred to as a syndrome rather than as a unique and nosologically distinct condition. These involvements may present alone or co-exist in the same patient. Although all the possible combinations of the above-mentioned manifestations may occur, clusters of commonly co-existing involvements (also referred to as 'disease phenotypes') have been suggested, namely 'mucocutaneous and articular', 'peripheral vascular and extra-parenchymal neurological' and 'parenchymal neurological and ocular' phenotypes have been described. Patient-specific demographic and genetic features have been described as positively or negatively associated with specific disease phenotypes. This review will focus on the different clinical features of Behçet's syndrome, summarizing current evidence on the distinct disease manifestations as well as the major phenotypes.

Safety of systemic treatments for Behçet's syndrome

INTRODUCTION

Treatment of Behçet's syndrome (BS) is aimed at controlling all symptoms of such a complex disorder, ensuring a good quality of life and preventing life-threatening complications. A better understanding of the pathogenic role of different chemokines has improved our knowledge of BS and elicited a more specific use of therapies currently available, minimizing the burden of potential side-effects related to treatment.

AREAS COVERED

This work aims to provide a detailed overview of the safety profile for current therapies available in the treatment of BS, focusing on the main side-effects, toxicity and contraindications.

EXPERT OPINION

The greatest experience in the management of BS has been achieved with the employment of monoclonal anti-tumor necrosis factor antibodies which have been advocated for BS refractory manifestations. Moreover, interleukin-1 inhibitors have proven to be effective as well as safe, despite escalation of their dosage, especially to manage the most severe and difficult-to-treat ocular manifestations. However, general treatment of BS patients remains awkward as protean clinical features may respond differently to the same treatment or even worsen. Therefore, patients' safety for therapies used in BS promotes the implementation of precision medicine, which could help targeting accurately the pathogenetic mechanisms concealed behind specific clinical phenotypes.

Efficacy and safety of apremilast for Behçet’s syndrome: a real-life single-centre Italian experience

Objectives

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of apremilast in treating oral ulcers (OUs), the cardinal and high-disabling feature of Behçet’s disease (BD).

Methods

Twelve consecutive patients affected by BD with recurrent/relapsing OUs resistant and/or intolerant to conventional therapy were enrolled and prospectively followed. The primary endpoint was the number of OUs at week 12. Secondary endpoints were modification from baseline to week 12 in Behçet’s Syndrome Activity Score (BSAS), Behçet’s Disease Current Activity Form (BDCAF) score, Behçet’s Disease Quality of Life (BDQOL) scale and pain of OUs, as measured by a visual analogue scale (VAS). All adverse events (AEs) were recorded during follow-up. Non-parametric tests (Wilcoxon rank test) were used and a P-value &lt;0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

After 12 weeks of apremilast, there was a significant reduction in the number of OUs [0.58 (s.d. 0.67) vs 3.33 (s.d. 1.45) at baseline, P = 0.02] that was paralleled by improvement in disease activity: BSAS was 16.8 (s.d. 9.1) [from 45.9 (s.d. 19.6) at baseline] (P = 0.02), BDCAF score was 0.72 (s.d. 0.65) [vs 2.45 (s.d. 1.0) at baseline] (P = 0.04) and the VAS score for pain decreased to 23.3 (s.d. 13.7) [vs 67.9 (s.d. 17.2) at baseline] (P = 0.02). Consistently, an improvement of BDQOL was assessed (P = 0.02). Clinical improvement led to complete steroid discontinuation in six patients and a tapering of the prednisone dose in two patients (P = 0.016). Colchicine was discontinued in six of nine patients (P = 0.031). AEs related to apremilast occurred in four patients (mainly due to gastrointestinal AEs), leading to drug discontinuation in all of them.

Conclusion

Our preliminary real-world data support the use of apremilast as an effective therapeutic strategy against BD-related recurrent OUs resistant or intolerant to first-line therapy.

Main Oral Manifestations in Immune-Mediated and Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases

Oral manifestations are frequent in patients with rheumatic diseases. The aim of this review is to offer readers practical advice concerning the onset, diagnosis and treatment of the main oral manifestations encountered in rheumatological and dental clinics. Signs and symptoms such as oral hyposalivation, xerostomia, temporomandibular joint disorders, periodontal disease, and dysphagia may be the first expression of a number of rheumatic diseases. Some of these manifestations are aspecific and very frequent, such as oral aphthosis, which can be the first manifestation in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus; some are potentially dangerous, such as jaw claudication during the course of giant cell arteritis; and some are very rare but peculiar, such as strawberry-like gingivitis in patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Other oral manifestations are due to adverse reactions to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. Oral alterations in rheumatic diseases are frequently overlooked in clinical practice, but their prompt recognition not only allows the local lesions to be appropriately treated, but also makes it possible to identify an underlying systemic disease.

Long-term efficacy and safety of golimumab in the treatment of multirefractory Behçet's disease

Our aim was to retrospectively assess the role of golimumab as a treatment choice in patients with Behçet's disease (BD). Seventeen patients diagnosed with BD according to the international criteria were consecutively enrolled; the BD Current Activity Form (BDCAF) was used to evaluate disease activity. After having collected clinical data from patients, statistical analysis was performed to identify differences between the start of therapy and last visit; significance was defined as p < 0.05. The mean duration of golimumab treatment was 18.47 ± 20.8 months. At the time of data enrollment, 12/17 (70.6%) patients were still on golimumab therapy. The mean time required to obtained clinical response was 4.9 ± 5.7 weeks. At 3 months evaluation, golimumab was able to control BD-related manifestations in 16/17 (94.1%) cases; the BDCAF values were significantly decreased at the last follow-up compared to those assessed at the start of golimumab (p = 0.002). The BDCAF improvement was significantly higher among patients co-administered with DMARDs than those undergoing golimumab as monotherapy (p = 0.048). At the last follow-up visit, corticosteroids had been discontinued in 10 (58.8%) patients, while the corticosteroid dosage was significantly lower at the last follow-up visit compared to the start of therapy in those patients already on corticosteroids at the end of the study (p = 0.001). Golimumab is a promising and safe treatment opportunity in BD patients with different systemic involvement, inducing a prompt resolution of clinical manifestations, a meaningful improvement of BDCAF score, and a significant corticosteroid-sparing effect. However, golimumab co-administered with DMARDs has provided better results than in patients undergoing monotherapy.

Behçet's syndrome: providing integrated care

Behçet's syndrome (BS) is a multisystem vasculitis that presents with a variety of mucocutaneous manifestations such as oral and genital ulcers, papulopustular lesions and erythema nodosum as well as ocular, vascular, gastrointestinal and nervous system involvement. Although it occurs worldwide, it is especially prevalent in the Far East and around the Mediterranean Sea. Male gender and younger age at disease onset are associated with a more severe disease course. The management of BS depends on the severity of symptoms. If untreated, morbidity and mortality are considerably high in patients with major organ involvement. Multidisciplinary patient care is essential for the management of BS, as it is for other multisystem diseases. Rheumatologists, dermatologists, ophthalmologists, neurologists, cardiovascular surgeons and gastroenterologists are members of the multidisciplinary team. In this study, we reviewed the epidemiology, etiology, diagnostic criteria sets, clinical findings and treatment of BS and highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary team in the management of BS.

Adalimumab effectiveness in Behçet's disease: short and long-term data from a multicenter retrospective observational study

Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of adalimumab (ADA) during a 24-month study period in patients affected with Behçet's disease (BD). Clinical and therapeutic data from 100 consecutive BD patients treated with ADA were retrospectively collected and statistically analyzed. At 12-week follow-up, ADA induced clinical efficacy in 81 patients, with a mean time to response of 7.63 ± 3.43 weeks; 25 (30.9 %) patients underwent a disease relapse after 22.17 ± 1.57 months, but treatment adjustments allowed a recovery of efficacy in 11 cases. At 24-month follow-up, 67/100 patients were still on ADA therapy despite concomitant treatments. No differences were identified between ADA monotherapy and co-treatment with DMARDs about efficacy (p = 0.09), time to response (p = 0.61), relapses (p = 0.36), and ADA discontinuation (p = 0.40). No differences existed in patients switched from other tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α inhibitors about efficacy at 12 weeks (p = 0.13) and rapidity of response (p = 0.93) while relapses (p = 0.01) and ADA discontinuation at 24 months (p = 0.001) were significantly more common. Adverse events occurred in 10 patients. ADA confirmed its effectiveness in BD. Combination therapy with DMARDs seems not significantly superior to monotherapy. Frequency and time to response for ADA was not conditioned by a previous lack or loss of efficacy to other TNF-α inhibitors, but long-term loss of efficacy seemed more likely in patients switched from other anti-TNF agents.

Ocular Involvement in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases

Eye involvement represents a common finding in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren syndrome, seronegative spondyloarthropathy, and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. The eye is a privileged immune site but commensal bacteria are found on the ocular surface. The eye injury may be inflammatory, vascular or infectious, as well as iatrogenic, as in the case of hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, corticosteroids, and bisphosphonates. Manifestations may affect different components of the eye, with episcleritis involving the episclera, a thin layer of tissue covering the sclera; scleritis being an inflammation of the sclera potentially leading to blindness; keratitis, referring to corneal inflammation frequently associated with scleritis; and uveitis as the inflammation of the uvea, including the iris, ciliary body, and choroid, subdivided into anterior, posterior, or panuveitis. As blindness may result from the eye involvement, clinicians should be aware of the possible manifestations and their management also independent of the ophthalmologist opinion as the therapeutic approach generally points to the underlying diseases. In some cases, the eye involvement may have a diagnostic implication, as for episcleritis in rheumatoid arthritis, or acute anterior uveitis in seronegative spondyloarthritis. Nonetheless, some conditions lack specificity, as in the case of dry eye which affects nearly 30 % of the general population. The aim of this review is to elucidate to non-ophthalmologists the major ocular complications of rheumatic diseases and their specific management and treatment options.

New therapeutic solutions for Behçet's syndrome

INTRODUCTION

Behçet's syndrome (BS) is a systemic inflammatory disorder characterized by a wide range of potential clinical manifestations with no gold-standard therapy. However, the recent classification of BS at a crossroads between autoimmune and autoinflammatory syndromes has paved the way to new further therapeutic opportunities in addition to anti-tumor necrosis factor agents.

AREAS COVERED

This review provides a digest of all current experience and evidence about pharmacological agents recently described as having a role in the treatment of BS, including interleukin (IL)-1 inhibitors, tocilizumab, rituximab, alemtuzumab, ustekinumab, interferon-alpha-2a, and apremilast.

EXPERT OPINION

IL-1 inhibitors currently represent the most studied agents among the latest treatment options for BS, proving to be effective, safe and with an acceptable retention on treatment. However, since BS is a peculiar disorder with clinical features responding to certain treatments that in turn can worsen other manifestations, identifying new treatment options for patients unresponsive to the current drug armamentarium is of great relevance. A number of agents have been studied in the last decade showing changing fortunes in some cases and promising results in others. The latter will potentially provide their contribution for better clinical management of BS, improving patients' quality of life and long-term outcome.