ArticleFood and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association2020
Tocilizumab improves oxidative stress and endothelial glycocalyx: A mechanism that may explain the effects of biological treatment on COVID-19.
Article in Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03288584 (The Effect of Inhibition of Interleukin-6 Activity on Vascular, Endothelial and Left Ventricular Function in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis), which is not on this map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
The Effect of Inhibition of Interleukin-6 Activity on Vascular, Endothelial and Left Ventricular Function in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vascular effects of biologic and targeted synthetic antirheumatic drugs approved for rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review.Clinical rheumatology · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of 4-month treatment with glycocalyx dietary supplement on endothelial glycocalyx and vascular function after COVID-19 infection.European journal of clinical investigation · 2025Trial
- hucMSCs alleviate LPS-induced endothelial glycocalyx damage by secreting Cxcl12 to activate CXCR4.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Article
- Analysis of the impact of pharmacological treatment on arterial stiffness in patients with connective tissue diseases.American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice · 2026Review
- Pathogenic breaches: how viruses compromise blood-tissue barriers.Tissue barriers · 2026Review
- Modulation of cellular senescence in psoriatic arthritis: exploring the potential impact of bDMARDs on telomere length, mtDNA copy number, and oxidative damage.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2025Article
- High-Intensity Interval Training and Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training on Ventricular-Arterial Coupling (VAC) in Young Women With Obesity.Echocardiography (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Challenging the notion of endothelial infection by SARS-CoV-2: insights from the current scientific evidence.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Interleukin-6 drives endothelial glycocalyx damage in COVID-19 and bacterial sepsis.Angiogenesis · 2024Observational
- Immunomodulatory Activity of Cytokines in Hypertension: A Vascular Perspective.Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979) · 2024Review
- Long-term efficacy of liposomal nanocarriers of preassembled glycocalyx in restoring cerebral endothelial glycocalyx in sepsis.Microvascular research · 2024Article
- The Endothelial Glycocalyx in Pig-to-Baboon Cardiac Xenotransplantation-First Insights.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Protecting the endothelial glycocalyx in COVID-19.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Insights into the Molecular Mechanism of Endothelial Glycocalyx Dysfunction during Heart Surgery.Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Review
- The genesis of cardiovascular risk in inflammatory arthritis: insights into glycocalyx shedding, endothelial dysfunction, and atherosclerosis initiation.Clinical rheumatology · 2023Review
- Role of Endothelium in Cardiovascular Sequelae of Long COVID.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Novel Anti-Inflammatory Therapies in Coronary Artery Disease and Acute Coronary Syndromes.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Oxidative stress and COVID-19-associated neuronal dysfunction: mechanisms and therapeutic implications.Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica · 2023Review
- Endothelial Dysfunction in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: A Narrative Review and Clinical Implications.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023Review
- Inhibition of IL-6 signaling prevents serum-induced umbilical cord artery dysfunction from patients with severe COVID-19.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We investigated the effects of tocilizumab on endothelial glycocalyx, a determinant of vascular permeability, and myocardial function in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Eighty RA patients were randomized to tocilizumab (n = 40) or conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) and glucocorticoids (GC) (n = 40) for 3 months. Forty healthy subjects with similar age and sex served as controls. We measured: (a)perfused boundary region (PBR) of the sublingual arterial microvessels (increased PBR indicates reduced glycocalyx thickness), (b)pulse wave velocity (PWV), (c)global LV longitudinal strain (GLS), (d)global work index (GWI) using speckle tracking echocardiography and e)C-reactive protein (CRP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyls (PCs) as oxidative stress markers at baseline and post-treatment. Compared to controls, RA patients had impaired glycocalyx and myocardial deformation markers (P < 0.05). Compared with baseline, tocilizumab reduced PBR(2.14 ± 0.2 versus 1.97 ± 0.2 μm; P < 0.05) while no significant differences were observed post-csDMARDs + GC(P > 0.05). Compared with csDMARDs + GC, tocilizumab achieved a greater increase of GLS, GWI and reduction of MDA, PCs and CRP(P < 0.05). The percent improvement of glycocalyx thickness (PBR) was associated with the percent decrease of PWV, MDA, PCs and the percent improvement of GLS and GWI(P < 0.05). Tocilizumab improves endothelial function leading to a greater increase of effective myocardial work than csDMARDs + GC through a profound reduction of inflammatory burden and oxidative stress. This mechanism may explain the effects of tocilizumab on COVID-19. CLINICAL
trial registrationurl: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT03288584.
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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.