Clinical trial of etanercept tapering in juvenile idiopathic arthritis during remission

To explore the possibility of step-down method and low dose of etanercept for long-term stable remission of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Patients with JIA were enrolled into this study between February 2008 and March 2010 and then followed up for 2 years. The inclusion criteria were clinical remission and use of etanercept for therapy. On the first year of the study, the dose of etanercept was kept at 0.4 mg/kg per week, the half dose of what those patients had been used. On the second year, the dose of etanercept was further lowered to 0.4 mg/kg per month. DMARDs were allowed in this study. MR images were performed to observe joint changes. The primary end point was disease flare defined according to clinical and/or radiological data. The flare rate curve was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier, and logistic regression model was used to find factors associating with disease flare. MRI was performed to prove no active changes or progressions of bone erosions on joints. Thirty-one patients were enrolled in this study. There were 4 patients experiencing disease flare during the first 12th month. During the second year, disease flare was not occurred. Thus, the cumulative flare rate was 12.9 % on 12th month and then unchanged on the second year. Logistic regression model indicates there are no differences in sex, age of disease initiation, disease duration, subtypes, DMARDs, HLA-B27, months of etanercept duration and scores on MRI between patients with remission and those experiencing flares. At the end of the study, MRI found no progressions of joints to the patients keeping stable remission. Step-down method can be used for etanercept tapering. Long-term remission and low flare rate can be got by this method.