Biologic Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis / 한양의대학술지

ABSTRACT

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease of unknown etiology characterized by symmetric and erosive synovitis. The course of RA is usually chronic and progressive, so it can result destructive joint damages. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DM ARDs) and low-dose corticosteroid have been used for the treatments of RA. The importance of early usage of DMARDs are stressed recently, however, the effects of DMARDs on long-term prognosis is not convincing. Since 1998, several biologic agents were developed for RA and showed promising results. These agents include TNF-alpha blockers such as etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, and IL-1 receptor antagonist such as anakinra. Clinical studies for rituximab, anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody, and CTLA4-Ig are underway. The biologic agents show rapid improvement in clinical and laboratory parameters and may prevent the erosions on Xray, but because of costs and unknown long-term side effects, we should be more careful for using these drugs.