Clinical outcomes of patients with giant cell arteritis treated with tocilizumab in real-world clinical practice: decreased incidence of new visual manifestations

Placebo-controlled clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of tocilizumab (TCZ) for remission maintenance and glucocorticoid sparing in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA). However, limited data exist on the effectiveness and safety of TCZ for GCA in real-world clinical practice.

This was a retrospective, single-center analysis of patients with GCA treated with intravenous or subcutaneous TCZ (2010–2018). Outcomes evaluated before and after TCZ initiation included occurrence of flare, time to flare, annualized flare rate, flare characteristics (i.e., polymyalgia rheumatica [PMR] symptoms, cranial manifestations), prednisone use, and safety. Flare was defined as the recurrence of unequivocal GCA manifestations requiring treatment intensification. Subgroup analyses of patients with PMR or visual manifestations at GCA diagnosis were performed.

Sixty patients with GCA were included. The median (IQR) disease duration before and after the start of TCZ was 0.6 (0.2–1.6) and 0.5 (0.3–1.4) years, respectively. At least 1 flare was observed in 43 patients (71.7%) before and in 18 (30.0%) after TCZ initiation. Median (IQR) time to flare was 0.5 (0.3–0.7) years before TCZ treatment and 2.1 (0.6–2.6) years after TCZ initiation (HR 0.22; 95% CI 0.10–0.50; p = 0.0003). The annualized flare rate significantly decreased following TCZ use (before TCZ 1.4 [95% CI 1.0–2.1]; after TCZ 0.6 [95% CI 0.3–1.0] events/year; p < 0.001). Similar improvements were observed in patients with visual manifestations or PMR symptoms at GCA diagnosis. TCZ reduced the incidence of new visual manifestations, and no flares associated with permanent vision loss occurred while patients were receiving TCZ. Mean (SD) prednisone dose at TCZ onset and at the end of follow-up was 30 (18.3) and 5 (6.9) mg/day, respectively (p < 0.0001). After TCZ initiation, 46.6% of patients successfully discontinued prednisone. The incidence of adverse events, primarily attributed to glucocorticoids, was similar before and after TCZ initiation.

In this real-world setting, TCZ improved GCA clinical outcomes significantly and demonstrated effectiveness in the subgroups of patients with PMR symptoms and GCA-related visual manifestations at GCA diagnosis. No new cases of blindness occurred after TCZ initiation. Adverse events, many attributable to glucocorticoids, were comparable before and after TCZ treatment.