Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Assessment of Therapeutic Response of Tofacitinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

This is a pilot open-label trial of 25 RA patients treated with tofacitinib over 3 months. The patients meeting inclusion criteria will be started on tofacitinib 5mg po bid. Patients will be recruited from the UCLA Rheumatology Clinics. Inclusion criteria will include the following: meeting ACR 1987 RA criteria, DAS28≥3.2, age≥18, and PDUS\>10 (see below for more details). Patients who are deemed unsafe to enroll will be excluded. Ultrasound measures (PDUS/GSUS) and MBDA scores will be obtained at screen, baseline, 2 weeks, and 3 months. In addition, we will also obtain HAQ-DI, CDAI, and DAS28 at the same time points. In addition, we will have a 6 week visit for capturing adverse events, concomitant drugs, drug dispensation, and evaluation of adherence. Currently, there are several US measures to evaluate therapeutic response in RA patients that have been used in the literature. Some US studies evaluate all joints involved in RA, which is time consuming. At present, there is no consensus as to the ideal ultrasound scoring system. However, we will utilize a 34-joint US scoring system to evaluate response to therapy in this proposal (see Table 1). Our research team has expertise in MSUS (given several workshops/lectures nationally) and we have proficiency in designing/conducting MSUS clinical trials. We currently have 4 ultrasonography-rheumatologists at UCLA who are ACR certified in MSUS.