Biologics improve endothelial, vascular and left ventricular myocardial function in patients with psoriatic arthritis

Abstract Background/Introduction Psoriatic arthritis is characterized by systemic inflammation leading to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Purpose We aimed to investigate the effects of biologics on endothelial glycocalyx, vascular and left ventricular (LV) myocardial function in patients with psoriatic arthritis. Methods One hundred twenty patients (mean age: 51±11 years) with psoriatic arthritis were randomized to receive biologics [n=60; anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (etanercept, adalimumab, infliximab), anti-interleukin (IL)-12/23 (ustekinumab) or anti-IL-17 (secukinumab)] or nonbiologics (n=60; methotrexate or cyclosporine). At baseline and 4 months post-treatment, we measured: (1) Perfused boundary region (PBR) of the sublingual microvessels with a diameter 5–25μm using Sidestream Dark Field camera (Microscan, Glycocheck). Increased PBR indicates impaired glycocalyx integrity. (2) Pulse wave velocity (PWV - Complior; ALAM Medical), (3) Coronary flow reserve (CFR) in the distal left anterior descending coronary artery, (4) Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery and (5) LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) using speckle-tracking echocardiography. Results Compared with baseline, all patients had reduced PWV (11±2.1 versus 10.3±1.5m/s, p=0.001) and increased FMD (5.45±3.2 versus 9.77±4.7, p=0.004) at 4 months. PBR remained unchanged in both study groups (p>0.05). Compared with nonbiologics, biologics resulted in a greater reduction of PWV (−10% versus −4%) and in a greater increase of CFR (+11% versus −1%), FMD (+102% versus +56%) and GLS (+10% versus −2%) (p>0.05 for all comparisons) 4 months post-treatment. In patients treated with biologics, the percent increase of GLS post-treatment was related with the percent reduction of PWV (r=−0.28, p=0.034) and with the percent increase of FMD (r=0.42, p=0.006). Conclusion In psoriasis arthritis, biologics confers a greater improvement of endothelial, vascular and LV myocardial function compared with nonbiologics after 4-month treatment. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.