As researchers learn more about the genetic etiology of immunopathology, they have been able to more clearly understand rare but debilitating autoinflammatory conditions in ways that have improved identification and management of these diseases. At this year’s European Congress of Rheumatology, two researchers outlined EULAR’s new recommendations from the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) for the management of two groups of such autoinflammatory diseases: interleukin (IL)-1-mediated and Type-I interferonopathies, and suspected macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).
These are the first recommendations from EULAR for these diseases, according to Loreto Carmona, MD, PhD, chair of the EULAR scientific program committee and scientific director of the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health in Madrid, Spain.
“They are rare diseases and there is a great need to standardize diagnosis and care for the safety and outcome of the patients,” Carmona told Medscape Medical News. “These diseases need deep expertise and so the experts are trying, they are still preliminary, to add clarity to their management.” Carmona was not involved with the development of the guidelines and moderated the session during which they were presented.
“The rapidly emerging knowledge of the genetic causes of novel systemic autoinflammatory diseases, which present typically in early childhood with severe and chronic systemic and organ-specific inflammation, linked the disease pathogenesis to the pathologic production of major proinflammatory cytokines,” presenter Raphaela Goldbach-Mansky, MD, a senior investigator and chief of the Translational Autoinflammatory Disease Studies Unit of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told congress attendees. This greater understanding led to the “targeted and anticytokine treatments that have changed patients’ lives,” she said.
The guidelines relied on the products of three working groups for each disease type. After meeting to come up with clinical questions, the groups each conducted systematic literature reviews through EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library for publications dated from 1970 to August 2020 that excluded non-English-language studies, case reports, and animal model or basic science studies. They then met again to develop final consensus statements.
The interferonopathy and IL-1-mediated systemic autoinflammatory diseases (SAIDs) working groups met throughout 2020, and the HLH/MAS working group met in March and April of 2021.
“One needs a lot of experience with these diseases to even think about them,” Carmona said. “We haven’t been presented yet with all the details of the recommendations, but we hope they are clear because they are much needed.”
She noted that these preliminary recommendations are based on the best available evidence to date along with expertise from multidisciplinary panels.
“We need to be acquainted with these recommendations, as the majority of us, either if we are pediatric or adult rheumatologists, will face some problem with these diseases at some point,” Carmona told Medscape Medical News.
IL-1-Mediated SAIDs
Recommendations for IL-1-mediated SAIDs focused on mevalonate kinase deficiency (MKD), tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS), cryopyrinopathies (CAPS), and deficiency of the IL-1 receptor antagonist (DIRA). Presentation of these conditions involves chronic or intermittent flares of systemic and organ inflammation that can cause progressive organ damage, morbidity, and increased mortality if not treated. Diagnosis requires a multidisciplinary team whose evaluation should include disease-related complications and long-term care plans.
Diagnostic workup should include genetic testing using next generation sequencing as this “facilitates initiation of targeted treatments, genetic counseling, and informs prognosis” for patients with CAPS, TRAPS, MKD, and DIRA, Erkan Demirkaya, MD, a scientist at the Children’s Health Research Institute and professor of pediatric rheumatology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, told attendees. Evaluation should also include clinical workup that focuses on the extent of inflammatory organ involvement, and screening for disease- and treatment-related comorbidities.
“The goal of therapy is to control clinical signs and symptoms and normalize laboratory biomarkers of systemic inflammation,” Demirkaya said. Long-term monitoring goals should focus on the following:
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“Adequate treatment adjusted to the needs of the growing child and prevention of systemic and organ-specific inflammatory manifestations;
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Fostering of self-management skills and medical decision-making;
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Initiating a transition program to adult specialist care in adolescent patients.”
Type-1 Interferonopathies
The recommendations for this disease group focused on chronic atypical neutrophilic dermatosis with lipodystrophy and elevated temperatures (CANDLE)/proteasome-associated autoinflammatory syndromes (PRAAS), STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI), and Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS).
These patients similarly present with chronic and organ-specific inflammation that leads to progressive organ damage, morbidity, and higher mortality risk when not managed. Each of these diseases requires a confirmed genetic diagnosis so that treatments can be targeted and the patient receives appropriate genetic counseling, screening for complications, and information on prognosis, Goldbach-Mansky said.
Treatment goals for type-1 interferonopathies are to “reduce systematic and organ inflammation to prevent or limit the development of progression of organ injury or damage and to improve quality of life,” Goldbach-Mansky told attendees.
Each patient requires a multidisciplinary care provider team that conducts long-term monitoring of disease activity, damage to specific organs, and any treatment-related complications.
Management of HLH/MAS
Early recognition and management of HLH and MAS can be challenging because systemic hyperinflammation exists along an immunopathologic continuum with typically nonspecific clinical and laboratory findings, Goldbach-Mansky said, but holistic, longitudinal consideration of these findings “are recognizable and warrant prompt diagnostic evaluation.” Even if the patient does not meet all specific diagnostic criteria for HLH/MAS, it may be necessary to begin therapies, she said.
One important point to consider is that “systemic hyperinflammation can be associated with hyperferritinemia and can progress to life-threatening HLH/MAS,” Goldbach-Mansky said. Further, although “systemic hyperinflammation and HLH/MAS can occur in nearly any inflammatory state,” certain common triggers and predisposing conditions can indicate the need to consider these conditions and begin appropriate treatment if needed. Part of effective management of systemic hyperinflammation and HLH/MAS is determining any modifiable factors contributing to the disease and mitigating or treating those.
HLH/MAS requires urgent intervention based on the patient’s degree of inflammation and extent of organ dysfunction, the recommendations state. Treatment goals include preventing or limiting immunopathology, preserving the integrity of the diagnostic workup, and minimizing therapy-related toxicity.
Carmona, Goldbach-Mansky, and Demirkaya have reported no relevant financial relationships.
Tara Haelle is an independent science journalist based in Texas who writes about medical research. Find her at @tarahaelle
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