Rheumatoid arthritis synovium response to abatacept. Rheumatoid arthritis synovium response to abatacept

Our goal was to assess for the histological and transcriptomic effects of Abatacept on RA synovia, and to compare them with previously published data from four other DMARDs: Tocilizumab, Rituximab, Methotrexate and Adalimumab. Overall design: Paired analysis (before vs. after treatment) of transcriptomic data from ten patients with active RA treated with Abatacept. All patients met the ACR/EULAR 2010 RA classification criteria. For each patient, synovial biopsies (3-5 fragments pooled) were obtained from the same affected joint before (W0) and 16 weeks after (W16) starting treatment with Abatacept 125mg per week subcutaneously. Total RNA was extracted and hybridized on HGU133 Plus 2.0 arrays.