A study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases examines how circulating interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) influences the effectiveness of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation (MSCT) in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The researchers conducted both animal and human studies to explore this relationship.
Initial experiments in the murine collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model showed that wild-type MSCT alleviated disease symptoms, while MSCT from IFN-γ receptor-deficient mice led to worsened inflammation and joint damage. These findings informed the design of a phase 1/2 randomized controlled clinical trial involving 63 RA patients who had shown poor response to standard therapies.
Participants were assigned to receive either MSCT alone (n=32) or MSCT in combination with recombinant human IFN-γ (n=31). At the 3-month mark, the combination group demonstrated notably better clinical outcomes, with 93.3% achieving ACR20 response rates, compared to 53.3% in the monotherapy group (p<0.05). These improvements were also reflected in EULAR response scores. Importantly, the study reported no new or unexpected safety issues over the 1-year follow-up.
The authors concluded that IFN-γ is a critical factor in mediating the therapeutic effects of MSCT. Enhancing MSCT with IFN-γ may offer improved clinical outcomes for patients with treatment-resistant RA.
