Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis associated with interstitial lung disease (SJIA-LD) represents a highly morbid subset of SJIA for which effective therapies are lacking. We report the case of a patient with refractory SJIA-LD who underwent treatment with MAS-825, an investigational bispecific monoclonal antibody targeting IL-1β and IL-18. MAS-825 treatment was associated with a marked reduction in total IL-18 and free IL-18 in both serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL). Baseline oxygen saturation, exercise tolerance, and quality of life metrics improved after treatment with MAS-825, while pulmonary function testing remained stable. Following treatment, the BAL showed no evidence of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis and inflammatory infiltrates were markedly reduced, reflected by decreased numbers of CD4 T-cells, CD8 T-cells, and macrophages. The patient was able to wean entirely off systemic corticosteroids and other biologics after 10 months of treatment with MAS-825 and experienced no side effects of the drug. This case demonstrates improvement in pulmonary symptoms, lung inflammation, and burden of immunomodulatory therapy after treatment with MAS-825 and suggests that simultaneous targeting of both IL-1β and IL-18 may be a safe and effective treatment strategy in SJIA-LD.
Keywords: Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis; immunotherapy; interleukin-18; interleukin-1β; interstitial lung disease.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.