Anakinra for the treatment of adult secondary HLH: a retrospective experience

Anti-cytokine therapies have been gaining attention as a means of improving outcomes in adult secondary HLH (asHLH), which currently has poor outcomes when treated with standard etoposide-based therapies. Anakinra is an interleukin-1 antagonist that is increasingly being used in the management of asHLH. Here is described a multi-hospital series of 16 adult patients with secondary HLH treated with anakinra. Provoking factors of secondary HLH included hematologic malignancy (n = 7, 44%), bacterial infection (n = 7, 44%), viral infection (n = 5, 31%), rheumatologic disorder (n = 4, 25%), and unknown (n = 1, 6%). Five patients remained alive at time of last follow-up (OS = 31%). Median OS was 1.7 months from initiation of anakinra (range 0.2–59). OS among patients with rheumatologic causes of secondary HLH was 75%, whereas only 17% of patients with other provoking factors survived (p = 0.0293). Anakinra was well tolerated, with only 1 patient experiencing associated toxicity (grade 3 liver injury). Anakinra may be useful in the management of asHLH provoked by rheumatologic conditions, although its benefit in asHLH provoked by other factors may be limited.