Fig. 9: Tofacitinib reduces cytokine and chemokine levels and markers of macrophage activation in plasma.

a Heatmap showing expression of selected transcripts from bulk RNAseq of skin; sample labels are summarized in Supplementary Table 5. b Volcano plot showing relative abundance of proteins in plasma from sarcoidosis patients in this trial compared to healthy controls, p values determined using t-tests, two-tailed. c Relative abundance of plasma proteins in sarcoidosis patients compared to controls (x-axis) compared to mRNA levels in skin of sarcoidosis patients (as determined by bulk-RNA-seq) compared to healthy controls (y-axis). Simple regression line with 95% confidence interval (shaded area) shown, goodness of fit calculated with R squared. d Relative abundance of proteins in plasma of sarcoidosis patients compared to healthy controls (x-axis) plotted against relative abundance of proteins in plasma of sarcoidosis patients at baseline (pre-tx) compared to after 6 months of tofacitinib (post-tx) (y-axis). The most consistently and highly differentially abundant proteins were used to create the sarcoidosis plasma signature (SPS) shown in the shaded box. e Heatmap showing plasma levels of SPS proteins in trial participants (before and after tofacitinib) and healthy controls, grouped by response pattern. Best responders include patients with a complete response in the skin (CSAMI 0 on treatment) and a complete or near complete response in other organs (98% or greater reduction in TLG). Partial responders include all other patients. f Clinical photographs of scalp and scrotal (biopsy-proven) sarcoidosis. Shown at baseline, after 6 months of tofacitinib at 5 mg twice daily, and after 12 months of tofacitinib 10 mg in the morning and 5 mg at night. g PET scans of the patient in panel f before tofacitinib, after 6 months at 5 mg twice daily, and after 14 months at 10 mg in the morning and 5 mg at night, TLG: total lesion glycolysis. h SPS levels corresponding to timepoints in (panel f).