ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2017 June;152(3):297-301

DOI: 10.23736/S0392-0488.16.05301-3

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Efficacy of cyclosporine A as monotherapy in patients with psoriatic arthritis: a subgroup analysis of the SYNERGY Study

Delia COLOMBO ¹, Sergio CHIMENTI ², Paolo A. GROSSI ³, Antonio MARCHESONI ⁴, Rosario FOTI ⁵, Piergiacomo CALZAVARA PINTON ⁶, Emanuela ZAGNI ¹, Alessandra ORI ⁷, Gilberto BELLIA ¹ ✉

¹ Novartis Farma Italia, Origgio, Varese, Italy; ² Tor Vergata Policlinic, Rome, Italy; ³ Ospedale di Circolo e Fondazione Macchi, Varese, Italy; ⁴ Pini Orthopedic Institute, Milan, Italy; ⁵ Azienda Universitaria Ospedaliera Policlinico Vittorio Emanuele, Catania, Italy; ⁶ Azienda Ospedaliera Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy; ⁷ MediData Srl, Modena, Italy

BACKGROUND: The SYNERGY Study is an observational, multicenter Italian study, conducted in patients with diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) treated from at least 3 months with cyclosporine and aimed at assessing patients’ seropositivity for viral infections and efficacy and safety of cyclosporine, administered as monotherapy or in combination with other systemic drugs in the routine clinical practice. The aim of this subanalysis of the SYNERGY study was to evaluate the effects of CsA as monotherapy only in PsA over 12 months of observation.
METHODS: Psoriasis was evaluated by Body Surface Area and the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI). PsA was evaluated by number of swollen and tender joints, painful entheses and fingers with dactylitis, the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Activity Index (BASDAI) and by patients’ and physicians’ global assessment on a 10-point Visual Analogue Scale.
RESULTS: Cyclosporine in monotherapy was effective in reducing all the measured disease parameters. The major indexes of cutaneous and spinal involvement, PASI and BASDAI were significantly reduced over the study period, as were the number of swollen and tender peripheral joints, and enthesitis and dactylitis.
CONCLUSIONS: Cyclosporine in monotherapy confirmed its efficacy in cutaneous psoriasis and suggested to be effective also on PsA, reducing spinal and peripheral joints’ signs and symptoms.

KEY WORDS: Cyclosporine - Observational study - Psoriasis - Arthritis, psoriatic