Response to Interleukin-17A Inhibitors According to Prior Biologic Exposures: A Danish Nationwide Study.

Whether response to an interleukin (IL-17) inhibitor is different in patients with previous exposure to an IL-17 inhibitor compared with patients with exposure to biologics with other cytokine targets remains to be elucidated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to  assess whether previous exposure to an IL-17A inhibitor was associated with worse response than exposure to (an)other biologic(s). All patients in the DERMBIO register treated with an IL-17A inhibitor (secukinumab or ixekizumab) were included. With an absolute Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) ≤ 2 as response, the proportion of responders treated with IL-17A inhibitors was assessed in patients previously treated with another IL-17A inhibitor and compared with patients with previous exposure to (an)other biologic(s), using a χ2 test. In total, 100, 93 and 83 patients with  previous exposure to an IL-17A inhibitor and 414, 372 and 314 patients with previous exposure to (an) other biologic(s) were assessed after 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. No differences in the proportion of  patients achieving PASI ≤ 2 were observed between the 2 groups after 3 months (54% vs 57%, p = 0.59), 6months (70% vs 66%, p = 0.42) and 12 months (69% vs 60%, p = 0.14). In conclusion, when treating patients with IL-17A inhibitors the cytokine target of the previous biologic does not appear to affect the  response.

Heritability of hand eczema is not explained by comorbidity with atopic dermatitis.

Genetic factors have been shown to influence the risk of hand eczema, and may theoretically influence the frequency of eruptions as well as age at onset of the disease. However, the result may be confounded by atopic dermatitis, which is a major risk factor for development of hand eczema and is known to be influenced by genetic factors. In this study, the importance of genetic and environmental risk factors in the etiology of hand eczema, independent of atopic dermatitis, was investigated in a population-based twin cohort. In addition, any possible genetic influence on frequency of hand eczema eruptions and age at onset was explored. In all, 4,128 twin individuals (response rate 82%) answered a questionnaire on self-reported hand eczema. Similarity within twin pairs was estimated and quantitative genetic modelling performed. Controlling for age and atopic dermatitis, the effect of genetic risk factors was moderate and explained 41% of the variance in liability to develop hand eczema, leaving 59% of the variance to be caused by environmental factors. Genetic factors accounted for 31% of the variance in liability regarding frequency of eruptions. Environmental factors explained the variance in liability concerning age at onset.