Systemic Treatment with the Janus Kinase Inhibitor Baricitinib in Ocular Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease

Objective: To investigate the effects of oral baricitinib on ocular surface disease (OSD) in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). Design: Prospective phase 1 to 2 single institution trial. Subjects: Eighteen patients with ocular graft-versus-host-disease (oGVHD) and systemic steroid-refractory cGVHD. Methods: Oral baricitinib (2 mg and 4 mg) was administered daily for up to 12 months in an intrapatient dose-escalation design. National Institutes of Health (NIH) oGVHD score, vision, corneal Oxford staining (COS), tear break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer I test (ST) without anesthesia, and microliter tear equivalent conversion were assessed at baseline, 6 months (primary efficacy end point), and 12 months if patients remained on the drug. Main Outcome Measures: Improvement in NIH oGVHD score, COS, TBUT, and ST results in patients with and without conjunctival fibrosis at 6 months. Results: At 6 months, the NIH oGVHD score significantly improved (P = 0.014) with all OSD parameters also showing improvement, though not statistically significant. COS baseline, 2.17 to 0.95; TBUT baseline, 6.66 to 8.18 seconds, Schirmer I baseline, 3.86 mm (2.6 μl) to 5.56 mm (3.9 μl). For patients continuing treatment at 12 months improvements persisted compared with the baseline but remained statistically nonsignificant. Corneal Oxford staining decreased to 0.94; TBUT increased to 8.95 seconds, and ST improved to 10.19 mm (7.2 μL). Conjunctival fibrosis was present in 39% (n = 7) of the patients at baseline. The greatest improvement was observed in the 11 patients without prior conjunctival fibrosis compared with the baseline: COS 1.84, TBUT 6.32 seconds, ST 4.07 mm (2.1 μl); 6 months: COS 0.25 (P = 0.018), TBUT 8.62 seconds, ST 9.12 mm (5.4 μl); 12 months: COS 0, TBUT 10.29 seconds, ST 16.88 mm (10.6 μl). Vision was stable in all groups. Two patients developed asymptomatic, self-limited conjunctival papillomas, and 1 patient developed uncomplicated bacterial conjunctivitis twice. No dose limiting toxicity was observed. Severe adverse events with hospitalizations for possible drug-related systemic infections occurred in 5 patients. Conclusions: Systemic baricitinib was well-tolerated, improved NIH oGVHD scores and OSD parameters in patients with oGVHD, with the greatest benefits observed in patients without pre-existing conjunctival fibrosis. Conjunctival fibrosis may affect outcomes and should be considered in patient selection for clinical trials. Financial Disclosure(s): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.