[Immunomodulating basic therapy of rheumatoid arthritis using ciamexone]

Ciamexone, a 2-cyanoaziridine derivative, had been shown previously in animal studies to inhibit the proliferation of autoreactive lymphocytes dose dependently, without affecting the reaction against foreign antigens. To extend the experimental models of ciamexone's in vitro effects to the clinical level, we performed a pilot study to evaluate the clinical efficacy of ciamexone therapy. We further studied its influence on the systemic inflammatory activity and T-lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of 10 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Following 6 months' treatment with ciamexone all patients showed a significant decrease of both the clinical and biochemical scores. Concerning the T-lymphocyte subsets analysis, a relatively decreased rate of the activated T-lymphocytes was observed concurrently. Minor side effects included rash (n = 1), hepatotoxicity (n = 1) and diarrhea (n = 1). The study thus documents the clinical efficacy of ciamexone in patients with RA, but also indicates the agent's potential toxicity.