Anti-Drug Antibody Formation Against Biologic Agents in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background and aims: Immunogenicity with formation of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) to biologics is an important reason for treatment failure in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Our aim was to assess the rate of ADA, the effect of combination therapy with immunomodulators on ADA and the influence of ADA on efficacy and safety of biologics for IBD treatment.

Methods: MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched from inception to April 2020 for trials of biologics that assessed immunogenicity. The overall certainty of evidence was evaluated using Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE). The primary outcome was rate of ADA. Secondary outcomes included efficacy and safety outcomes among patients with detectable versus undetectable ADA. For dichotomous outcomes, pooled risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated.

Results: Data from 68 studies were analyzed and 33 studies (5850 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled ADA rates for biologic monotherapy were 28.0% for infliximab, 7.5% for adalimumab, 3.8% for golimumab, 10.9% for certolizumab, 6.2% for ustekinumab and 16.0% for natalizumab. Pooled ADA rates were 8.4% for vedolizumab and 5.0% for etrolizumab for combo- and monotherapy combined. In all biologics, ADA rates were underestimated by use of drug-sensitive ADA assays and higher dose and/or frequency. ADA rate was significantly reduced in patients treated with combination therapy for infliximab (RR 0.52; 95% CI 0.44-0.62), adalimumab (RR 0.31; 95% CI 0.14-0.69), golimumab (RR 0.29; 95% CI 0.10-0.83), certolizumab pegol (RR 0.30; 95% CI 0.14-0.67) and natalizumab (RR 0.20; 95% CI 0.11-0. 39). ADA to infliximab were associated with lower clinical response rates (RR 0.75; 95% CI 0.61-0.91) and higher rates of infusion reactions (RR 2.36; 95% CI 1.85-3.01).

Conclusions: Differences in analytical methods to detect ADA hamper comparison of true ADA rates across biologics in IBD. Use of combination therapy with immunomodulators appeared to reduce ADA positivity for most biologics. For infliximab, ADA were associated with reduced drug efficacy and increased adverse events.