Infliximab Versus Intravenous Immunoglobulin for Refractory
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www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Infiximab versus intravenous immunoglobulin for refractory Kawasaki disease: a phase 3, Received: 30 June 2017 Accepted: 5 December 2017 randomized, open-label, active- Published: xx xx xxxx controlled, parallel-group, multicenter trial Masaaki Mori1,15, Takuma Hara1,16, Masako Kikuchi2, Hiroyuki Shimizu3, Tomoyuki Miyamoto4, Satoru Iwashima 5,17, Tatsuya Oonishi6, Kunio Hashimoto7, Norimoto Kobayashi8, Kenji Waki9, Yasuo Suzuki10, Yoshikazu Otsubo11, Hiroshi Yamada12, Chikao Ishikawa12, Taichi Kato13 & Shigeto Fuse14 We compared the efcacy and safety of infiximab with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), a standard therapy, in a phase 3 trial (NCT01596335) for Japanese patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) showing persistent fever after initial IVIG. Patients with initial IVIG-refractory KD, aged 1–10 years, received a single dose of IV infiximab 5 mg/kg or IV polyethylene glycol-treated human immunoglobulin (VGIH) 2 g/kg on day 0. Primary outcome was defervescence rate within 48 h after the start of treatment. Safety was evaluated through day 56. Overall, 31 patients were randomized (infiximab, n = 16; VGIH, n = 15); 31.3% and 60.0% patients discontinued due to worsening KD. Defervescence rate within 48 h was greater with infiximab (76.7%) than VGIH (37.0%) (p = 0.023), and defervescence was achieved earlier with infiximab (p = 0.0072). Coronary artery lesions occurred in 1 (6.3%) and 3 (20.0%) patients receiving infiximab and VGIH, respectively, up to day 21. Adverse events occurred in 15 (93.8%) and 15 (100.0%) patients in the infiximab and VGIH groups, respectively. No serious adverse events in the infiximab group and one in the VGIH group were observed. Infiximab improved the defervescence rate within 48 h and time to defervescence versus standard therapy, and was well tolerated in patients with IVIG-refractory KD. 1Yokohama City University Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan. 2Department of Pediatrics, Yokohama City University Hospital, Yokohama, Japan. 3Children’s Medical Center, Yokohama City University Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan. 4Department of Pediatrics, Yokosuka General Hospital Uwamachi, Yokosuka, Japan. 5Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan. 6Department of Pediatrics, National Hospital Organization Shikoku Medical Center for Children and Adults, Zentsuji, Japan. 7Department of Pediatrics, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan. 8Department of Pediatrics, Shinsyu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan. 9Department of Pediatrics, Kurashiki Central Hospital, Kurashiki, Japan. 10Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Japan. 11Department of Pediatrics, Sasebo City General Hospital, Sasebo, Japan. 12Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. 13Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya University Hospital, Nagoya, Japan. 14Department of Pediatrics, NTT Sapporo Medical Center, Sapporo, Japan. 15Present address: Department of Lifetime Clinical Immunology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan. 16Present address: Department of Pediatrics, Hara Children’s Clinic, Tokorozawa, Japan. 17Present address: Department of Pediatrics, Chutoen General Medical Center, Kakegawa, Japan. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.M. (email: [email protected]) SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | (2018) 8:1994 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-18387-7 1 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Figure 1. Patient disposition. KD, Kawasaki disease; VGIH, polyethylene glycol-treated human immunoglobulin. Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute febrile disorder predominantly afecting young children, especially those aged 0–5 years1,2. KD frequently causes coronary artery abnormalities and acquired heart disease in children1,2. Terefore, the most important goal of treatment is to prevent coronary artery lesions (CALs) by suppressing acute infammation within 10 days of the onset of illness3. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is the initial therapy for KD3,4 and leads to rapid defervescence and improvement of infammatory conditions in most patients, resulting in a lower incidence of CALs; however, approximately one-ffh of patients respond inadequately to initial IVIG therapy5–7. Patients with KD refractory to IVIG therapy, defned as a persistent or recrudescent fever ≥24 h or ≥36 h afer an initial IVIG therapy2,7, are at increased risk of CALs. Treatment options for initial IVIG-refractory KD include additional IVIG, prednisolone, methylprednisolone pulse, ulinastatin, cyclosporine, methotrexate, and plasma exchange; at present, an addi- tional dose of IVIG is the most common4,7 and recommended7 therapy. However, approximately half of patients are unresponsive to IVIG retreatment7, leading to the investigation of several alternative treatments, including immunomodulatory agents, cytotoxic agents2, and interleukin (IL)-1 blockade8. Serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF), which is a pro-infammatory cytokine, is higher in patients with KD than in healthy children and adults and is higher in patients with than without CALs9,10. Tese results suggest that TNF is an important cause of severe complications in KD. Infiximab is a monoclonal antibody that specifcally binds to TNF and inhibits its pro-infammatory efects11. Several cases of infiximab-treated IVIG-refractory KD have been reported2,12–16. A phase 1, randomized, multicenter clinical trial of infiximab in initial IVIG-refractory patients with KD treated with IVIG on or before day 14 of fever reported that infiximab was well tolerated14. However, there have been few randomized trials in this setting and none in Japan, which has the highest incidence of KD12, and the usefulness of infiximab in IVIG-refractory KD is unclear. Terefore, we conducted a phase 3, randomized, open-label, active-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter trial to compare the efcacy and safety of infiximab treatment within 8 days of illness onset with an additional dose of IVIG in Japanese patients with initial IVIG-refractory KD. Results Tis study started on May 2012 and ended on September 2014, but the recruitment target was not reached, owing to the very small number of patients who met the eligibility criteria. Of the 35 patients with written informed consent, 31 were enrolled and randomized (n = 16 in the infiximab group, n = 15 in the VGIH group) (Fig. 1). Five of 16 (31.3%) and nine of 15 (60.0%) patients receiving infiximab and VGIH discontinued the trial due to worsening KD (persistent fever or CALs development) and were switched to another treatment at each physician’s discretion. Patient characteristics and treatment afer withdrawal from the trial are shown in Table 1. Te defervescence rate within 48 h was signifcantly greater in the infiximab group (infiximab: 76.7% [95% confdence interval: 56.6–96.7%]; VGIH: 37.0% [11.9–62.1%]; p = 0.023) (Fig. 2A). Te defervescence rates at 48 h were 70.0% (7/10) and 83.3% (5/6) for males and females, respectively, in the infiximab group and were 27.3% (3/11) and 50.0% (2/4) for males and females, respectively, in the VGIH group. Te median febrile period from the start of study drug administration was 16.0 h and 56.1 h in the infiximab and VGIH groups, respec- tively. Te duration of fever was signifcantly shorter in the infiximab group post-hoc using the log-rank test (p = 0.0072; Fig. 2B). Axillary body temperature from 4 h to 20 h was signifcantly lower in the infiximab group than in the VGIH group post-hoc using an unpaired t-test (Supplementary Fig. S1). CALs were found in one patient receiving infiximab (6.3%) and in three patients receiving VGIH (20.0%) through day 21. No patient had a new CAL afer day 21. In the patients who were evaluated for coronary artery internal diameters (Z-score) afer the start of treatment, there was no diference in the Zmax (largest of the right SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | (2018) 8:1994 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-18387-7 2 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Infiximab (n = 16) VGIH (n = 15) Sex (males), n (%) 10 (62.5) 11 (73.3) Median age at enrollment, years (range) 2.5 (1–6) 3.0 (1–4) 1 to <2, n (%) 2 (12.5) 2 (13.3) 2 to <10, n (%) 14 (87.5) 13 (86.7) Median height, cm (IQR) 94.0 (86.5–102.5) 92.0 (89.0–96.0) Median weight, kg (IQR) 13.75 (11.50–16.95) 13.20 (12.00–14.30) Presence of complications, n (%) 7 (43.8) 6 (40.0) Median duration of KD before starting 7.0 (6.0–7.0) 7.0 (6.0–7.0) treatment, days (IQR) Major symptoms of KD, n (%) Fever for ≥5 days 16 (100.0) 15 (100.0) Bilateral bulbar conjunctival congestion 15 (93.8) 15 (100.0) Lip/oral cavity changes 16 (100.0) 15 (100.0) Polymorphous rash 16 (100.0) 15 (100.0) Distal extremity changes 16 (100.0) 15 (100.0) Non-suppurative cervical lymphadenopathy 15 (93.8) 15 (100.0) Median body temperature at enrollment, °C 38.80 (38.40–39.75) 38.60 (37.70–39.50) (IQR) Median body temperature on day 0, °C (IQR) 39.40 (38.00–40.15) 38.80 (38.50–39.90) Concomitant acetylsalicylic acid, n (%) 15 (93.8) 15 (100.0) Concomitant systemic corticosteroids, n (%) 0 0 Treatment afer withdrawal from the trial, n (%) (n = 5) (n = 9) Immunoglobulins 3 (60.0) 3 (33.3) Systemic corticosteroids 1 (20.0) 0 Cyclosporine 1 (20.0) 1 (11.1) Acetylsalicylic acid 1 (20.0) 0 Infiximab (Remicade®) 0 5 (55.6). Plasmapheresis 2 (40.0) 3 (33.3) Table 1. Patient characteristics. KD, Kawasaki disease; IQR, interquartile range; VGIH, polyethylene glycol- treated human immunoglobulin. coronary artery, lef main coronary artery, lef anterior descending artery, and lef circumfex coronary artery internal diameters) at days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 56 between the infiximab group and the VGIH group post-hoc using a Mann-Whitney U test (Supplementary Fig. S2). However, two patients in the VGIH group had coronary artery Z-scores exceeding 5 (Fig. 3). In one infiximab-treated patient, lesions were found in the right coronary artery (internal diameter: 3.11 mm versus 2.42 mm on day 0; Z-score: 3.54 versus 1.93 on day 0) and lef anterior descending artery (internal diameter: 3.11 mm versus 1.94 mm on day 0; Z-score: 3.63 versus 0.80 on day 0) on discontinuation day (day 2), and both lesions regressed to <3.0 mm by day 56 afer plasmapheresis.