Anti-inflammatory therapies linked to reduced risk, incidence of Parkinson’s disease
Key takeaways:
- Those who used anti-TNF and anti-IL-17 drugs had a lower incidence and risk for Parkinson’s vs. those who did not.
- Patients treated with anti-IL-17 only had a lower risk for PD compared with those who were not.
In a large cohort of patients with autoimmune diseases, treatment with biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs was associated with reduced incidence of Parkinson’s disease, data show.
“This research contributes to the growing body of evidence examining the link between systemic inflammation and Parkinson’s disease pathophysiology,” Michele Potashman, MS, PhD, executive director, clinical outcomes assessments and health economics at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, told Healio in an email regarding the study published in Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. “By studying the association between [Parkinson’s disease] and immunomodulatory drugs commonly used to treat autoimmune diseases, potential new therapeutic targets may be identified.”
As the body of knowledge surrounding the efficacy of anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) and anti-interleukin (IL)-17 drugs on PD has so far yielded unclear results, Potashman and colleagues sought to investigate the association between PD incidence and immunosuppressive anti-inflammatory drugs in individuals diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis.
Their retrospective study utilized data pulled between 2014 and 2022 from the U.S. Komodo Health claims database to yield more than 2 million adults with at least one outpatient claim or two claims at least 30 days apart within a 12-month span. Patients were split into two groups: one diagnosed with autoimmune conditions and not treated with anti-TNF/anti-IL-17 drugs (n = 1,991,595); and one group of patients who were exposed to these drugs (n = 114,082). Patients were all free of PD at baseline.
The researchers then further split the study population into four subgroups: those treated with anti-TNF and anti-IL-17 drugs; those treated with anti-TNF only; those treated with anti-IL-17 only; and those not exposed to either.
Incidence for PD was defined by criteria including inpatient hospital visits, outpatient diagnosis claims and prescription claims associated with disease treatment. PD index date was qualified as the earliest date of either diagnosis or prescription. Person-time incidence rates of PD per 100 person-years (PY) and incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated for all cohorts.
Results showed unadjusted analyses indicated lower PD incidence in patients treated with biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) compared with those who were not (0.661 vs. 0.949 per 100-PY; IRR = 0.696; 95 % CI, 0.669–0.724).
The researchers also reported that exposure to bDMARDs resulted in significantly lower PD risk (adjusted IRR = 0.77; 95 % CI, 0.74–0.8) compared with no exposure to bDMARDs.
Data additionally showed IRRs for those exposed to anti-TNF or anti-IL-17 therapies were 0.77 (95% CI, 0.74–0.81) and 0.64 (95% CI, 0.52–0.8), respectively.
For adjusted analyses, Potashman and colleagues reported that exposure to anti-IL-17 treatment only resulted in a significantly lower risk of PD compared with those not exposed (adjusted IRR = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.52–0.8).
“In studying the association between [Parkinson’s disease] onset and immunomodulatory drugs commonly used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, patients who used anti-TNF or anti-IL-17 treatments had a lower risk of PD as compared to those who did not use these therapies,” Potashman told Healio. “Data suggest that immunosuppressive anti-inflammatory drugs may have an impact on the incidence of Parkinson's disease.”