Secukinumab reduces bone erosion and prevents enthesiophyte progression in psoriatic arthritis: Study

A new study published in the journal of Arthritis & Rheumatology found with high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT), that individuals with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who received secukinumab showed a substantial reduction in the amount of bone erosion and an improvement in the partial healing of erosions after a year.

Psoriatic arthritis can cause severe bone destruction and loss of physical function if inflammation is not managed. Conventional radiography has a limited sensitivity for detecting enthesophytes and bone erosions. A new method for analyzing bone microstructure in detail and with great consistency for evaluating enthesophyte and bony erosion is high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT.

After 6 months of anti-IL-17 medication, a prior single arm research showed encouraging results in stopping bone deterioration on HR-pQCT. This study used high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) to determine the impact of secukinumab on erosion and enthesiophyte development in psoriatic arthritis.

This experiment randomized patients 1:1 to assign patients with active PsA and ≥ 1 erosion in the metacarpophalangeal joints (MCPJ) 2-4 either subcutaneous secukinumab or placebo. The MCPJ 2-4 HR-pQCT was conducted at baseline, week 24, and week 48. Changes in the volume of erosions on MCPJ 2-4 as determined by HR-pQCT at 24 and 48 weeks were the main result.