title: [Therapeutic effect of infliximab on moderate and severe active rheumatoid arthritis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical efficacy of infliximab in the treatment of moderate and severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
  
  
  METHODS
  This randomized double-blind II/III clinical trial involved 30 patients with moderate and severe active RA, who were randomly allocated into 3 groups (groups A, B, and C) at the ratio of 3:1:1. At weeks 0, 2, 6, and 14, the patients in groups A and C received infliximab or placebo, and those in group B had placebo at week 14 with a stable background dose of methotrexate. The indicators for efficacy evaluation included the proportions of ACR20/50/70 of the responders and DAS28. The sharp scores of the hand joints were recorded before and after the treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-nine patients completed the clinical trial (18 in group A, 5 in group B, and 6 in group C). At week 14, the proportions of ACR20/50/70 in the 3 groups reached 83.33%, 60%, and 33.33%, respectively (P<0.05), as compared to 100%, 100%, and 33.33% at week 18 (P<0.05). The other indicators for clinical efficacy evaluation also suggested similar clinical improvement of the patients (P=0.000). The proportions of the patients with DAS28<3.2 and DAS28<2.6 were significantly different. Compared to the baseline, the Sharp scores in group A showed no significant changes at week 18 (P>0.930), while those in group C exhibited significant radiographic progression (P<0.044).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infliximab produces good short-term therapeutic effect against moderate and severe active RA and may help arrest the radiographic progression of the diseases, which can be more obvious in patients with moderate severity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Rheumatology, Nanfang Hospital, Guangzhou 510515, China. airenaiji924@163.com
authors.forename: Guo-hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hong-wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lü
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000069285:Infliximab; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000276:immunology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D000069285:Infliximab