Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

Wiley, Journal of Dermatology, 3(51), p. 441-447, 2023

DOI: 10.1111/1346-8138.17079

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Efficacy of oral JAK1 or JAK1/2 inhibitor for treating refractory pruritus in dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa: A retrospective case series

Journal article published in 2023 by Il Joo Kwon ORCID, Song‐Ee Kim ORCID, Soo‐Chan Kim ORCID, Sang Eun Lee ORCID
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

AbstractRefractory pruritus is the most distressing, disease‐related symptom in patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB), inducing an itch‐scratch‐blister cycle. Chronic inflammation is a hallmark of DEB, thus upregulation of inflammatory cytokines and Janus kinase (JAK) signaling may play a role in DEB‐related pruritus. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of DEB patients with refractory pruritus who were treated with either baricitinib, a JAK1/2 inhibitor, or upadacitinib, a selective JAK1 inhibitor. Patients received baricitinib (4 mg) or upadacitinib (15 mg) once a day for 2–32 weeks. A total of 12 DEB patients (six recessive DEB and six dominant DEB) were included in this study. The mean±SD baseline pruritus visual analog scale (VAS) score was 7.5 ± 1.7. Upadacitinib or baricitinib treatment resulted in a rapid and sustained decrease in itch. Four out of 12 patients (33.3%) and seven out of 10 patients (70%) showed a decrease of at least 3 points in the pruritus VAS score from baseline at weeks 2 and 4, respectively. The mean percentage changes from baseline in pruritus VAS scores at weeks 2 and 4 were −42.9% and −52.7%, respectively. Subgroup analysis showed greater reductions in the pruritus VAS score in the baricitinib group (n = 5) compared to the upadacitinib group (n = 7), and in patients with epidermolysis bullosa pruriginosa (n = 3) compared to other subtypes of DEB (n = 9); however, these differences did not reach statistical significance. Three out of 10 (33.3%) patients showed at least a 2‐point reduction in pain intensity from baseline at week 4. Eight out of 12 patients (66.7%) also showed a reduction in the number of new blisters, which correlated with a reduction in the pruritus score. No patient discontinued treatment because of serious adverse events. Our results suggest that JAK1 or JAK1/2 inhibitors could be a promising treatment option for DEB‐related pruritus. Long‐term safety should be assessed in future studies.