Efficacy of tocilizumab in Takayasu arteritis: Multicenter retrospective study of 46 patients.

TL;DR: The defensive functions of IL-6 and various pathological conditions are compared and the important role ofIL-6 in host defense should always be kept in mind in clinical practice.

TL;DR: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 63 observational studies reported the effectiveness of DMARDs in treating Takayasu arteritis (TAK) as mentioned in this paper, but the identified trials had some concern or high risk of bias.

TL;DR: Randomized controlled trials on IL-6 inhibition therapy using tocilizumab (TCZ) were performed, and significant effects were exhibited, and careful attention must be paid to possible infections, and dose of GC should be tapered as much as possible.

TL;DR: Weekly low-dose MTX is an effective means of inducing remission and minimizing GC therapy and toxicity in most of these patients, suggesting about half of all Takayasu arteritis patients have chronic active disease for which GC therapy alone does not provide sustained remissions that allow withdrawal of treatment.

TL;DR: The results suggest favour for tocilizumab over placebo for time to relapse of TAK without new safety concerns, and further investigation is warranted to confirm the efficacy of tocilizer in patients with refractory TAK.

TL;DR: The aim of this study was to analyze T cell homeostasis and cytokine production in peripheral blood and inflammatory lesions of the aorta in patients with TAK.

TL;DR: It is shown that 50% of patients with TA will relapse and experience a vascular complication ⩽10 years from diagnosis, and specific characteristics that identified those at highest risk for subsequent vascular complications are identified.