Is IL-6 an appropriate target to treat spondyloarthritis patients refractory to anti-TNF therapy? a multicentre retrospective observational study

Table 1 Main baseline features of the 13 patients meeting ASAS criteria [30] for axial spondyloarthritis

	Patient 1	Patient 2	Patient 3	Patient 4	Patient 5	Patient 6	Patient 7
Type of SpA	AS	AS	AS	AS	AS	AS	AS
Sacroiliitis	Grade 4	Grade 4	Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 3	Grade 3	Grade 4
HLA-B27	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Gender	Female	Female	Female	Male	Male	Female	Male
Disease duration (years)	9	27	11	6	4	24	19
Main location of inflammatory pain	Back, neck, chest, peripheral enthesitis (Achilles tendon, knee)	Neck, chest, peripheral enthesitis^a	Back, buttock, chest	Neck	Back, neck, buttock	Back, neck, chest	Back, neck, peripheral enthesitis (Achilles tendon)
Concomitant NSAIDs/steroids (dosage)	Yes/no	Yes/no	Yes/no	No/no	No/no	Yes/no	Yes/no
Concomitant DMARDs	No	No	No	Sulfasalazine	No	No	No
Previous biologics other than anti-TNF	Abatacept	Abatacept	Abatacept	No	No	No	No
	Patient 8	Patient 9	Patient 10	Patient 11	Patient 12	Patient 13
Type of SpA	AS and PsA	uSpA	uSpA	uSpA	uSpA	uSpA
Sacroiliitis	Grade 3	Grade 1	Grade 0	Grade 0	Grade 0	Grade 0
HLA-B27	-	+	+	+	+	+
Gender	Male	Female	Female	Male	Female	Male
Disease duration (years)	15	11	9	25	6	12
Main location of inflammatory pain	Back, neck, arthritis	Back, neck, buttock, chest	Back, buttock	Back, neck, buttock	Back, buttock, chest, peripheral enthesitis (Achilles tendon)	Back, neck
Concomitant NSAIDs/steroids (dosage)	No/no	Yes/no	Yes/no	No/no	Yes/no	No/yes (25 mg/day)
Concomitant DMARDs	No	No	No	No	No	No
Previous biologics other than anti-TNF	Rituximab	Abatacept	Abatacept	No	No	No

AS, ankylosing spondylitis meeting modified New York criteria [33]; ASAS, Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society; DMARD, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug; NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PsA, psoriatic arthritis meeting Classification Criteria for Psoriatic Arthritis [36]; SpA, spondyloarthritis; uSpA, undifferentiated spondyloarthritis. ^aLocation unknown.

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