Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the leading cause of disability in Chinese women. We established a synovial pathology queue in the early stage and proposed a new synovial immunopathology classification. We found that baseline myeloid stromal RA patients had severe conditions and poor outcome. Early identification of synovial myeloid stromal RA patients and intensified treatment are key to improving RA efficacy.
This project aims to conduct a randomized, controlled, open label, multicenter clinical study on early intensified treatment of RA based on synovial pathology classification. 130 adult patients with synovial myeloid stromal type of primary treatment moderate to severe active RA were planned to be enrolled in three centers: Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University; Shenshan Medical Center, Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, and Guangzhou Panyu Central Hospital. They were randomly divided into an intensive treatment group and a conventional treatment group in a 1:1 ratio. The intensive treatment group was treated with methotrexate combined with tofacitinib, while the conventional treatment group was treated with methotrexate monotherapy. The expected intervention period is 12 weeks, with a follow-up period of 48 weeks. The primary endpoint is the proportion of subjects who achieved ACR20 at week 12. Secondary endpoint indicators include improvement in disease activity and joint function among subjects at different follow-up points, safety, and the proportion of subjects who experienced joint destruction progression at week 48.
This project proposes the concept of achieving precise diagnosis of RA based on synovial pathology classification, and explores the efficacy of early methotrexate combined with tofacitinib intensified treatment for patients with synovial medullary stromal RA who have poor conventional treatment efficacy, providing high-level clinical evidence for achieving precise initial treatment of RA treatment guidelines.
Patients were diagnosed according to the 1987 American College of Rheumatology or 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria
Patients had moderate or high disease activity
Patients had a synovial biopsy and with a myeloid-stromal pathotype
Patients with good compliance, willing to participate in this study and sign an informed consent form
Patient received conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs treatment in the first 12 weeks of randomization
Patient received biologic agents treatment in the first 6 months of randomization
Patient received Janus kinase inhibitor treatment before randomization
Patient with serious diseases under control (such as diabetes), serious respiratory diseases, serious chronic gastrointestinal diseases (such as active or recurrent gastrointestinal ulcers), serious blood system diseases (such as aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndrome) or any disease that can cause hemolysis or erythrocyte instability (such as malaria, hemolytic anemia)