Biologic therapy with anti-TNFa in spondyloarthritides and other autoimmune diseases

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of the anti-TNFα (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha) drugs in a variety of pathologic conditions such as psoriatic arthritis, undifferentiated entheso-arthritides, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, adult onset Still's disease, Behcet disease. METHODS Review of all published studies evaluating the efficacy of these drugs (mainly infliximab and etanercept, adalimumab to a lesser degree) on the above diseases. RESULTS Results are reported for each pathologic condition. Both drugs showed to be very efficacious in all the above conditions, except Crohn disease where etanercept does not seem adequate. CONCLUSIONS Both drugs work extremely well, even though comparison between infliximab and etanercept efficacy cannot be performed, due to the lack of a direct comparison.