Colchicine-resistant Familial Mediterranean Fever: triggering factors are highly prevalent and reduced under IL-1 inhibition

Article title: Do we consider enough the presence of triggering factors in the evaluation of patients with FMF? Triggering factors are highly prevalent in colchicine-resistant FMF patients.

First author: Bayram Farisogullari

Journal: Internal and Emergency Medicine

Link to the article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38103114/

Introduction

The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency of triggering factors in patients with Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) who are resistant to colchicine and in those who are responsive to colchicine, and to assess the impact of interleukin-1 (IL-1) antagonist therapy on triggering factors in colchicine-resistant patients.

Patients and Methods

Colchicine-resistant FMF patients treated with IL-1 antagonists and colchicine-responsive patients treated with colchicine and experiencing ≤ 3 attacks in the previous year were questioned about the presence of 12 different triggering factors: cold exposure, emotional stress, fatigue, intense physical activity, menstruation (for women), sleep deprivation, prolonged standing, long-distance travel, high-fat diet, prolonged fasting, infections, and trauma.

Colchicine-resistant patients were questioned for two periods: before and after initiation of IL-1 antagonist therapy.

Results

A total of 63 patients were included, comprising 28 colchicine-resistant patients (19 treated with anakinra and 9 with canakinumab) and 35 colchicine-responsive patients. Only half carried two pathogenic mutations in exon 10 of the MEFV gene (Table 1). Overall, 77.8% of patients reported at least one triggering factor, with a mean number of 2.6 per patient.

The most common triggering factors, in decreasing order of frequency, were emotional stress, menstruation, cold exposure, prolonged standing, and long-distance travel. Triggering factors accounted for approximately one-third of attacks, and 57.1% of patients reported using avoidance strategies. The frequency of triggering factors was higher in colchicine-resistant patients than in colchicine-responsive patients (89.3% vs 68.6%; p = 0.04).

Among colchicine-resistant patients, the frequency of triggering factors decreased from 89.3% to 32.1% under IL-1 antagonist therapy, and the proportion of attacks initiated by a triggering factor decreased from 27.8% to 14.4% (p < 0.001) (Table 2).

Discussion

Triggering factors were more frequent in colchicine-resistant patients than in colchicine-responsive patients. Treatment with IL-1 antagonists appeared to reduce both the number of triggering factors and the proportion of attacks induced by these factors.

Conclusion

Triggering factors are common in FMF and should be systematically assessed, particularly when colchicine resistance develops. IL-1 antagonists reduce their impact and may be useful as long-term therapy or as preventive treatment during predictable exposures.