Domínguez Casas, Lucía C.Díaz Valle, DavidBlanco, Ricardo2024-12-032024-12-032020-04-15Dominguez-Casas, L. C., Sánchez-Bilbao, L., Calvo-Río, V., Maíz, O., Blanco, A., Beltrán, E., Martínez-Costa, L., Demetrío-Pablo, R., Del Buergo, M. Á., Rubio-Romero, E., Díaz-Valle, D., Lopez-Gonzalez, R., García-Aparicio, Á. M., Mas, A. J., Vegas-Revenga, N., Castañeda, S., Hernández, J. L., González-Gay, M. A., & Blanco, R. (2020). Biologic therapy in severe and refractory peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK). Multicenter study of 34 patients. Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism, 50(4), 608–615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2020.03.0230049-017210.1016/j.semarthrit.2020.03.023https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/111926Purpose: We assessed the efficacy and safety of biologic therapy in severe and refractory Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis (PUK). Design: Open-label multicenter study of biologic-treated patients with severe PUK refractory to conventional immunosuppressive drugs. Subjects: We studied 34 patients (44 affected eyes) (24 women/10 men; mean age, 55.26±17.4 years). PUK was associated with a well-defined condition in 29 of them (rheumatoid arthritis [n = 20], psoriatic arthritis [n = 2], inflammatory bowel disease [n = 2], Behçet disease [n = 1], granulomatosis with polyangiitis [n = 1], microscopic polyangiitis [n = 1], systemic lupus erythematosus [n = 1] and axial spondyloarthritis [n = 1]). Besides topical and oral systemic glucocorticoids, patients had received: methylprednisolone pulses [n = 9], and conventional immunosuppressive drugs, mainly methotrexate [n = 18], and leflunomide [n = 7]. Eleven patients had required ocular surgery prior to biologic therapy. Methods: Following biologic therapy, baseline main outcomes were compared with those found at 1st week, 1st and 6th months and 1st year. Main outcome measures: Efficacy and safety of biologic therapy. Efficacy was analyzed by the assessment of corneal inflammation (corneal thinning, central keratolysis and ocular perforation); other causes of ocular surface inflammation (scleritis, episcleritis); intraocular inflammation (uveitis); visual acuity and glucocorticoid sparing effect. Results: The first biologic agents used were anti-TNFα drugs (n = 25); adalimumab (n = 16), infliximab (n = 8), etanercept (n = 1), and non-TNFα agents (n = 9); rituximab (n = 7), tocilizumab (n = 1) belimumab (n = 1) and abatacept (n = 1). During the follow-up, switching to a second biologic agent was required in 12 of the 25 (48%) patients treated with anti-TNFα drugs. However, no switching was required in those undergoing biologic therapy different from anti-TNFα agents. The main outcome variables showed a rapid and maintained improvement after a mean follow-up of 23.7 ± 20 months. Major adverse effects were tachyphylaxis, relapsing respiratory infections, supraventricular tachycardia, pulmonary tuberculosis and death, one each. Conclusions: Biologic therapy is effective and relatively safe in patients with severe and refractory PUK. Non-anti-TNFα agents appear to be effective in these patients.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/journal article1532-866Xhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2020.03.023https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049017220300949restricted access612.017AdalimumabAnti-TNF therapyBelimumabBiologic therapy in PUKCertolizumabEtanerceptGolimumabInfliximabRituximabTocilizumabCiencias Biomédicas32 Ciencias Médicas