Background: Moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (with or without psoriatic arthritis) places significant burden on patients’ lives. Objective: Explore and document patients’ experiences of living with psoriasis, including symptoms, treatments, impact on daily lives and patient-reported functioning. Methods: In a US-based, non-interventional study, narrative interviews were conducted at baseline and again within 16 weeks. In interviews, patients with moderate to severe psoriasis indicated symptoms, ranked symptoms according to level of bother and indicated areas of their lives affected by psoriasis. Transcripts of interviews were coded for themes. Measurements of psoriasis severity including BSA, PGA and PASI were recorded. Results: Symptoms reported most frequently included flaking/scaling (non-scalp areas), itching/scratching and rash, while the most bothersome symptoms were itching/scratching, flaking/scaling (non-scalp areas) and skin pain. Frequently reported impact areas were social and emotional. Conclusion: Broad-reaching interviews with patients with psoriasis show that these patients suffer in many aspects of their lives and in ways not indicated by typical psoriasis severity measures. Patients with psoriatic arthritis reported symptoms and disease-related complications at higher rates than those without arthritis. Physicians’ explorations of the effect of psoriasis on patients’ life events could aid in managing these patients.
Introduction Theoretical risks of biologic agents remain under study. Objective The aim of this study was to integrate 1-year safety data from 12 ustekinumab registrational trials. Methods Patients had moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) (± methotrexate), or moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease (CD; failed/intolerant of immunomodulators/corticosteroids). Psoriatic patients received subcutaneous ustekinumab 45/90 mg or placebo, generally at week 0, week 4, then every 12 weeks thereafter, while those with CD received a single intravenous ustekinumab dose (130 mg or weight range-based dosing of approximately 6 mg/kg) or placebo induction dose at week 0, followed by subcutaneous ustekinumab 90 mg at week 8 and every 8/12 weeks thereafter. The incidence rates of a priori-defined safety events were integrated post hoc (adjusted for duration of follow-up, reported per 100 patient-years [PYs]). Results Among 6280 enrolled patients, 5884 ustekinumab-treated patients (psoriasis: 3117; PsA: 1018; CD: 1749) contributed 4521 PYs versus 674 PYs in placebo-treated patients through year 1 (829 PYs and 385 PYs during 8- to 16-week controlled periods). Combined across diseases among ustekinumab- versus placebo-treated patients, respective incidences/100 PYs (95% confidence intervals) of infections were 125.4 (122.2–128.7) versus 129.4 (120.9–138.3) through year 1, and not meaningfully increased in patients who did versus those who did not receive methotrexate (92.5 [84.2–101.5] vs. 115.3 [109.9–121.0]), or significantly increased in patients who did versus those who did not receive corticosteroids (116.3 [107.3–125.9] vs. 107.3 [102.0–112.8]) at baseline. Major adverse cardiovascular events (0.5 [0.3–0.7] vs. 0.3 [0.0–1.1]), malignancies (0.4 [0.2–0.6] vs. 0.2 [0.0–0.8]), and deaths (0.1 [0.0–0.3] vs. 0.0 [0.0–0.4]) were rare across indications. Conclusions Ustekinumab demonstrated a favorable and consistent safety profile across registrational trials in approved indications. Trial Registrations ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00320216, NCT00267969, NCT00307437, NCT00454584, NCT00267956, NCT01009086, NCT01077362, NCT00265122, NCT00771667, NCT01369329, NCT01369342, and NCT01369355.
Plaque psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease primarily affecting the skin, is thought to have a multifactorial etiology, including innate immune system dysregulation, environmental triggers, and genetic susceptibility. We sought to further understand the role of skin microbiota in psoriasis pathogenesis, as well as their response to therapy. We systematically analyzed dynamic microbiota colonizing psoriasis lesions and adjacent nonlesional skin in 114 patients prior to and during ustekinumab treatment in a phase 3b clinical trial. By sequencing the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene from skin swab samples obtained at six anatomical sites, we identified minor, site-specific differences in microbial diversity and composition between pretreatment lesional and nonlesional skin. During therapy, microbial communities within lesional and nonlesional skin diverged, and body-site dispersion increased, reflecting microbial skin site-specificity. Microbiota demonstrated greater pretreatment heterogeneity in psoriatic lesions than in nonlesional skin, and variance increased as treatment progressed. Microbiota colonizing recurrent lesions did not overlap with pretreatment lesional microbiota, suggesting colonization patterns varied between initial and recurrent psoriatic lesions. While plaque psoriasis does not appear to be associated with specific microbes and/or microbial diversity, this large dataset provides insight into microbial variation associated with (i) disease in different body locations, (ii) initial versus recurrent lesions, and (iii) anti-IL12/23 therapy.
SummaryBackground Phase III studies showed that some patients maintained response for ≥ 6 months following ustekinumab discontinuation. Objectives To assess clinical responses with extended ustekinumab maintenance dosing intervals. Methods Adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis received ustekinumab at weeks 0, 4 and 16 during open-label treatment. Patients achieving a week-28 Physician's Global Assessment (PGA) score of cleared/minimal (PGA = 0/1) were randomized 1 : 4 to group 1 [approved every 12 weeks (q12 wk) maintenance] or group 2 (q12-24 wk; response-based dosing determined by time to loss of PGA = 0/1). Key end points included the number of visits with PGA = 0/1 (primary end point) and ≥ 75% improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 75) between weeks 88 and 112, and PGA/PASI responses between weeks 28 and 112. Results Overall, 378 patients achieved PGA = 0/1 at week 28 and were randomized to group 1 (n = 76) or group 2 (n = 302). Patients in group 1 had numerically greater mean numbers of visits with PGA = 0/1 than group 2 and also with PASI 75 from week 88 to 112. A higher proportion of patients in group 1 (55%) than group 2 (39%) had PGA = 0/1 at all seven visits from week 88 to 112. Maintenance of response was observed with dose-interval extension beyond q12 wk in a subset of patients. Extending the dosing interval did not affect antibody development or safety. Conclusions Efficacy was better maintained among week-28 PGA responders randomized to continue q12 wk ustekinumab vs. extending maintenance dosing based on clinical response, although some patients maintained high levels of efficacy with up to q24 wk dosing.
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