Treatment outcomes stratified by interferon profile and autoantibodies in rheumatoid arthritis

Fukui, S.; Michitsuji, T.; Endo, Y.; Nishino, A.; Furukawa, K.; Shimizu, T.; ... ; Kawashiri, S.Y. (2025)

Article / Letter to editor

Despite treatment advances, some rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients fail to achieve remission with biological/ targeted synthetic DMARDs. We prospectively evaluated 200 patients to determine if interferon profiles and autoantibodies predict treatment outcomes. A significant positive correlation between rheumatoid factor and IFN-gamma levels was observed. Patients with high IFN-gamma/low IFN-alpha 2 profiles achieved significantly higher remission rates and demonstrated elevated B cell-stimulating cytokines with distinct immunological clustering patterns. This group showed superior responses to IL-6 inhibitors. Anti-carbamylated protein IgM antibodies differed significantly between groups. Interferon profiling offers a practical screening approach for personalized therapy selection in RA.

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• IFN-gamma/IFN-alpha 2 profile
• Anti-CarP-IgM antibodies
• Treatment response
• Cytokine profiling

• All authors: Fukui, S.; Michitsuji, T.; Endo, Y.; Nishino, A.; Furukawa, K.; Shimizu, T.; Umeda, M.; Sumiyoshi, R.; Koga, T.; Iwamoto, N.; Tamai, M.; Origuchi, T.; Schie, K.A. van; Ueki, Y.; Eiraku, N.; Yoshitama, T.; Matsuoka, N.; Suzuki, T.; Okada, A.; Hamada, H.; Ayano, M.; Hidaka, T.; Tsuru, T.; Huizinga, T.W.J.; Toes, R.E.M.; Kawakami, A.; Kawashiri, S.Y.
• Date: 2025-09-30
• Journal: Journal of Autoimmunity
• Volume: 157
• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.jaut.2025.103490