Transcriptomic profiling of secukinumab-treated psoriatic arthritis reveals potential novel response-associated pathways
OBJECTIVES: Interleukin-17A inhibitors are therapeutic options in psoriatic arthritis (PsA), but response is not universal. Evidence from other inflammatory arthritides suggests differential gene expression may predict outcomes. This study aimed to identify transcriptomic predictive biomarkers of response in PsA patients commencing secukinumab. METHODS: Participants were recruited to OUTPASS, a prospective observational cohort study of patients with PsA initiating advanced therapeutics. Samples for this analysis were chosen based on extreme phenotype response. Whole-blood RNA sequencing was performed longitudinally in 13-secukinumab-treated patients at baseline (pre-treatment) and 3-months post-treatment, with response evaluated at 3-months using DAS28 and PsARC criteria. Differential gene expression analysis, Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA), and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were performed to identify significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (adjusted p< 0.05, |log2 fold change| ≥ 1), enriched pathways (p< 0.05), and co-expressed gene modules. Immune cell subset proportions were estimated by deconvolution, and hub genes were identified by integrating DEGs and WGCNA, with overlapping genes defined as potential driver genes. RESULTS: IGHV3-64D and IGHV1-46 were differentially expressed at baseline, 3-months, and sustained over time in the responder group (adjusted p< 0.05). Five overlapping genes (GMPR, CDC34, DMTN, UBXN6, and SLC25A39) were identified as potential drivers. Functional analysis indicated a potential contribution of metabolic pathways to the modulation of therapeutic response. CONCLUSIONS: We identified two genes as pre-treatment predictive biomarkers of secukinumab response that persisted over time. Integration with WGCNA revealed five additional candidate genes. These genes are implicated in metabolic pathways, which may modulate secukinumab response. These findings warrant further validation.
Authors
- A Barton
- P Martin
- Hector Chinoy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6492-1288)
- Nahdia Afiifah Abdul Jalil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1453-5412)
- James Bluett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5062-5779)
- Charlotte Thompson
- W Tillett
- L Mercer
- I Gaywood
- A Samanta
- B Pal
- Meghna Jani
- T O’Neil
- P Lanyon
- M Massarotti
- C Chattopadhya
- W Dixon
- E E Smith
- S Selvan
- I Bruce
- P Sheldon
- P A Courtney
- A Abhishek
- M Ahmad
- P Nandi
- K Mackay
- B Parker
- L Das
- R Cooper
- A Hassan
- M Bukhari
- C Filer
- A Barton
- Z Karim
- J F McHale
- P Sanders
- E Bruce
- M Castelino
- A Gupta
- H Shiels
- A Russell
- R Alshakh
- A Low
- N Goodson
- S Naz
- A P Bowden
- S Kyle
- A Ismail
- S Kavaklieva
- R Gorodkin
- B Harrison
- R Manhas
- A C Jones
- P Watson
- N Gendi
- F Rees
- Nisha Nair
- I Pande
- N McHugh
- H Chinoy
- P Ho
- W Hassan
- S Hayat
- A Bharadwaj
- A Srikanth
- A Nandagudi
- S Haque
- L Shand
- E G Chelliah
- for the Outcomes of Treatment in Psoriatic Arthritis Study Syndicate (OUTPASS)
- M Rutter
- M Durrani
- L Ottewell
- M Jani
- R Jeffery
- A Herrick
- J S H Taylor
- K Hyrich
- J Packham
- M Pattrick
- D J Speden
- P Klimiuk
Institutions
- Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (GB)
- University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (MY)
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Arthritis UK (GB)
- University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (GB)
- National University of Malaysia (MY)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Lara D. Veeken
- Published
- 2026-04-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keag193
- Primary Topic
- Spondyloarthritis Studies and Treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00