Anti-rheumatic medicine used for rheumatoid arthritis would possibly stop the event of autoimmune thyroid illness, in line with a brand new observational examine by researchers from Karolinska Institutet printed within the Journal of Inner Drugs.

It’s well-known that sufferers with rheumatoid arthritis are at elevated threat of autoimmune thyroid illnesses equivalent to Hashimoto’s illness and Graves’ illness. Whereas sufferers with RA are often handled with immunomodulatory medicine that have an effect on the immune system, such medicine are not often utilized in autoimmune thyroid illnesses. As a substitute, such sufferers are handled with thyroid hormone to compensate for the adjustments in regular thyroid perform that accompany autoimmune thyroid illness.

The researchers within the present examine wished to analyze whether or not immunomodulatory medicine that cut back irritation within the joints of sufferers with RA may additionally cut back the danger of those sufferers growing autoimmune thyroid illness. Earlier research in mice counsel that so-called DMARDs, a sort of immune-modulatory medicine used to deal with rheumatoid arthritis, can cut back irritation within the thyroid gland. Nonetheless, information of whether or not this impact additionally applies to people is proscribed, in line with the analysis group.

The researchers used information between 2006 and 2018 on over 13,000 sufferers with rheumatoid arthritis and their remedy, in addition to information from over 63,000 people in a matched management group with out rheumatoid arthritis.

The researchers discovered that the danger of growing an autoimmune thyroid illness amongst RA sufferers was decrease after their onset of the rheumatic illness than earlier than prognosis.

Essentially the most pronounced discount within the threat of autoimmune thyroid illness was seen in sufferers with rheumatoid arthritis handled with immunomodulatory medicine or ‘organic DMARDs’. In these sufferers, the danger of autoimmune thyroid illness was 46 p.c decrease than within the management group with out rheumatoid arthritis.

“These outcomes assist the speculation that sure sorts of immunomodulatory medicine might have a preventive impact on autoimmune thyroid illness,” says Kristin Waldenlind, researcher on the Division of Drugs, Solna, Division of Scientific Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, specialist in rheumatology at Karolinska College Hospital and first writer of the examine.

Our outcomes don’t show that it’s the remedy with immunomodulatory medicine that led to the diminished threat of autoimmune thyroid illness, however present assist for this speculation. The outcomes, if they are often replicated in additional research, open up the opportunity of learning extra straight in scientific trials whether or not the immunomodulatory medicine at present used for rheumatoid arthritis is also used for the early remedy of autoimmune thyroid illness, i.e. for brand new areas of use of those medicine, generally known as drug repurposing.”

Kristin Waldenlind, Examine’s First Writer

The Swedish Analysis Council, the Swedish Coronary heart-Lung Basis and Vinnova primarily financed the examine.