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Alexis Guédon: Is IL-6 Pathway Inhibition Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Giant Cell Arteritis?
Alexis Guédon/LinkedIn
Sep 1, 2026, 02:35

Alexis Guédon: Is IL-6 Pathway Inhibition Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Giant Cell Arteritis?

Alexis Guédon, Junior Deputy Editor at the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, shared on LinkedIn about a recent article he and his colleagues co-authored, published in Circulation, adding:

”Is IL-6 pathway inhibition associated with lower cardiovascular risk in giant cell arteritis?

Presented today at ESC Congress 2026 in Munich, and now published in Circulation, our study, conducted within the Sorbonne Vascular Research Group, compared cardiovascular outcomes after initiation of tocilizumab or methotrexate in giant cell arteritis.

Patients with giant cell arteritis have an increased cardiovascular risk. Tocilizumab, an IL-6 receptor inhibitor, and methotrexate are both used as glucocorticoid-sparing therapies, but their effects on cardiovascular outcomes remain uncertain in this population.

IL-6 inhibition has emerged as a potential strategy to reduce cardiovascular risk. The recent neutral ZEUS trial suggests that its effects may depend on the population and inflammatory context, making highly inflammatory diseases such as GCA a particularly relevant setting to investigate.

Using the French National Health Data System, we emulated a target trial including 1,997 patients with incident giant cell arteritis.

We found that:

  • 2-year MACE risk was 6.4 percent with tocilizumab vs 10.7 percent with methotrexate.
  • Tocilizumab initiation was associated with a lower risk of MACE (HR 0.60, 95 percent CI 0.48-0.75)
  • The difference was mainly driven by coronary events (HR 0.55) and all-cause mortality (HR 0.53)
  • No difference was observed for ischemic stroke or major vascular relapse.

These findings suggest that the cardiovascular effects of IL-6 pathway inhibition may differ across inflammatory settings, with highly inflammatory vascular diseases such as giant cell arteritis potentially representing a particularly relevant target population.”

Title: Tocilizumab Is Associated With a Lower Incidence of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Giant Cell Arteritis

Authors: Alexis F. Guedon, Patrice Cacoub, Fabrice Carrat, Olivier Espitia, Adrien Mirouse, Etienne Ghrenassia, Olivier Fain, Arsène Mekinian, David Saadoun

Alexis Guédon: Is IL-6 Pathway Inhibition Reduce Cardiovascular Risk in Giant Cell Arteritis?

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Adrien Mirouse Alexis F Guedon Alexis Guédon Arsène Mekinian bleeding disorders David Saadoun Etienne Ghrenassia Fabrice Carrat Health Hematology Hemostasis Hemostasis News Hemostasis Today Medicine Olivier Espitia Olivier Fain Patrice Cacoub thrombosis
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