Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39245963›Full record

ArticleArthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.)2025

Emapalumab Treatment in Patients With Rheumatologic Disease-Associated Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in the United States: A Retrospective Medical Chart Review Study.

Shanmuganathan Chandrakasan, Carl E Allen, Deepika Bhatla, John Carter, May Chien, Robert Cooper, Lauren Draper, Olive S Eckstein, Rabi Hanna, J Allyson Hays and 20 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Type I Interferon and Still Disease.Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026
    Article
  4. Interferon-JAK-STAT Axis in Bone Metabolism.Current osteoporosis reports · 2026
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Cytokine storm.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026
    Review
  7. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: do we have a solution for TMI (too much inflammation)?Hematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program · 2025
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

30 authors.

Shanmuganathan ChandrakasanAflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Carl E AllenBaylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
Deepika BhatlaSaint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri.
John CarterOregon Health and Science University, Portland.
May ChienLucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.
Robert CooperBellflower Medical Center, Bellflower, California.
Lauren DraperSaint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri.
Olive S EcksteinBaylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
Rabi HannaCleveland Clinic Children's Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.
J Allyson HaysChildren's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri.
Michelle L HermistonUniversity of California, San Francisco.
Ashley P HinsonAtrium Health Levine Children's Hospital, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Patricia M HobdayUniversity of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis.
Michael S IsakoffConnecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford.
Michael B JordanCincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Jennifer W LeidingJohns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, and Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, Florida.
Renee ModicaUniversity of Florida Health Shands Children's Hospital, Gainesville.
Taizo A NakanoChildren's Hospital Colorado, Aurora.
Abiola OladapoSobi, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts.
Sachit A PatelUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha.
Priti PednekarPRECISIONheor, Bethesda, Maryland.
Mona RiskallaUniversity of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis.
Susmita N SarangiMedstar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC.
Prakash SatwaniNewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York City.
Anand TandraFranciscan Health, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Kelly J WalkovichUniversity of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.
John D YeeSobi, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts.
Adi Zoref-LorenzCincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Edward M BehrensChildren's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
REAL‐HLH investigators

Funding

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveRheumatologic disease-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare, life-threatening, systemic hyperinflammatory syndrome, occurs as a complication of underlying rheumatologic disease. Real-world evidence is lacking on emapalumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody that neutralizes the proinflammatory cytokine interferon-γ, approved for treating patients with primary HLH.

methodsREAL-HLH, a retrospective medical chart review study conducted across 33 US hospitals, assessed real-world treatment patterns and outcomes in patients with HLH treated with one or more dose of emapalumab between November 20, 2018, and October 31, 2021. Data are presented for the subset of patients with rheumatologic disease-associated HLH.

resultsFifteen of 105 patients (14.3%) had rheumatologic disease-associated HLH. Of these, nine (60.0%) had systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and one (6.7%) had adult-onset Still disease. Median (range) age at HLH diagnosis was 5 (0.9-39) years. Most patients (9 of 15; 60.0%) initiated emapalumab in an intensive care unit. Emapalumab was most frequently initiated for treating refractory or recurrent (10 of 15; 66.7%) disease. Most patients received HLH-related therapies before (10 of 15; 66.7%) and concurrently with (15 of 15; 100.0%) emapalumab. Emapalumab-containing regimens stabilized or achieved physician-determined normalization of most laboratory parameters, including absolute neutrophil count and absolute lymphocyte count (13 of 14; 92.9%), chemokine ligand 9 (9 of 11; 81.8%), and platelets and alanine transaminase (11 of 14; 78.6%), and reduced glucocorticoid dose by 80%. Overall survival and 12-month survival probability from emapalumab initiation were 86.7%.

conclusionEmapalumab-containing regimens stabilized or normalized most key laboratory parameters, reduced glucocorticoid dose, and were associated with low disease-related mortality, thereby demonstrating potential benefits in patients with rheumatologic disease-associated HLH.

Indexed as

Antibodies, MonoclonalAntibodies, Monoclonal, HumanizedArthritis, JuvenileLymphohistiocytosis, HemophagocyticRheumatic DiseasesAdolescentAdultAntibodies, NeutralizingChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantMaleRetrospective StudiesStill's Disease, Adult-OnsetAntibodies, MonoclonalAntibodies, Monoclonal, HumanizedAntibodies, NeutralizingEmapalumab

Identifiers

PMID39245963
PMCPMC11782109

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.