Trial reportAnnals of the rheumatic diseases2005
A multicentre, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled phase II study of subcutaneous interferon beta-1a in the treatment of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis.
Trial report in Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of long-term joint structural deterioration in minimally treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2016Pooled it
- Association of the response to tumor necrosis factor antagonists with plasma type I interferon activity and interferon-beta/alpha ratios in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a post hoc analysis of a predominantly Hispanic cohort.Arthritis and rheumatism · 2010Trial
- Phytochemicals and nanoformulation strategies for rheumatoid arthritis: mechanistic insights, therapeutic advances, and translational challenges.Inflammopharmacology · 2026Review
- The Type I Interferon Axis in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases: From Molecular Pathways to Targeted Therapy.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Management of disease-modifying therapies in multiple sclerosis and comorbid rheumatoid arthritis.Neurological research and practice · 2025Review
- IFNβ absence compensates for LAT functions in latency reactivation and T cell exhaustion.Journal of virology · 2025Article
- Serum level of IFNβ distinguishes early from late relapses after biologics withdrawal in rheumatoid arthritis.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Treatment approaches to patients with multiple sclerosis and coexisting autoimmune disorders.Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders · 2021Review
- Type I Interferons in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2020Review
- Anti-inflammatory and immune-regulatory cytokines in rheumatoid arthritis.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2019Review
- Type I interferon in rheumatic diseases.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2018Review
- Early phase and adaptive design clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review of early phase trials.Rheumatology advances in practice · 2018Article
- Synovial tissue research: a state-of-the-art review.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2017Review
- Human Leukocyte Antigen Shared Epitope and Inflammation, Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and Mortality Among Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative Rheumatoid Arthritis Study.American journal of epidemiology · 2017Article
- Is there a role of synovial biopsy in drug development?BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2016Review
- Cytokines in rheumatoid arthritis - shaping the immunological landscape.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2016Review
- Article
- Exogenous IFN-beta regulates the RANKL-c-Fos-IFN-beta signaling pathway in the collagen antibody-induced arthritis model.Journal of translational medicine · 2014Article
- Targeting of viral interleukin-10 with an antibody fragment specific to damaged arthritic cartilage improves its therapeutic potency.Arthritis research & therapy · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 13 institutions in 9 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the efficacy of interferon beta (IFN beta) in combination with methotrexate in treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
methods209 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis, who had been on methotrexate for at least six months and at a stable dose for four weeks before study entry, were randomised in double blind fashion to receive placebo (0.05 ml or 0.5 ml), IFN beta 2.2 microg (0.05 ml), or IFN beta 44 microg (0.5 ml), given subcutaneously three times weekly for 24 weeks. The primary efficacy measure was a change in radiological scores at week 24. The secondary endpoint was the proportion of patients who met the ACR 20% improvement criteria at the end of the study. Synovial biopsy specimens were obtained before and after treatment from a subset of patients. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the presence of inflammatory cells and the results were measured by digital image analysis. Collagen crosslinks were measured in urine at different times throughout the study.
resultsAnalysis of radiological scores and clinical variable showed no changes in any of the groups, and there were no differences between the groups. On microscopic analysis of synovial tissue there was no significant change in the scores for infiltration by inflammatory cells after IFN beta treatment. Urinary levels of collagen crosslinks were unchanged between the treatment groups.
conclusionsAt the doses tested, treatment with IFN beta three times weekly in combination with methotrexate did not have a clinical or radiological effect in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.