Paroxetine Safety and Efficacy in Rheumatoid Arthritis

The GRK2 Inhibitor Paroxetine as a Novel Adjunct to Conventional Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic chronic auto-inflammatory disorder which imposes a remarkable burden of morbidity and mortality on global health. The complex interaction between genetics, environment, and immunological response contribute to RA pathogenesis. Current treatment comprises conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) followed by biological DMARDs, if necessary, to achieve low disease activity or remission. Therapeutics used in RA had limitations in tolerability, access, and response duration and magnitude. Consequently, implementation of safe adjunctive treatment for RA is urgently needed to boost the therapeutic response.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 23-57 years fulfilling 2010 American College of Rheumatology - European League against Rheumatism (ACR-EULAR) classification criteria for RA (12) and had active inflammatory RA with no limit in disease duration.
• Patients received MTX, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, acetaminophen, and low dose of oral corticosteroids will be allowed to enroll the trial
• Intravenous, intra-articular or intramuscular corticosteroids; intra-articular hyaluronate sodium; biological DMARDs; and other DMARDs will not be permitted less than 4 weeks before the first dose of paroxetine.

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients refusing to give informed consent, diabetes, congestive heart failure, previous adverse reaction to paroxetine, oral prednisolone greater than 10 mg/day, receiving biological DMARDs, severe anemia, active infection, pregnancy or lactation, and clinically significant renal or hepatic disease.