Effect of additional administration of tacrolimus in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biologics.

OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of additional administration of tacrolimus to rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with biologics, in whom the effect of biologics is unsatisfactory. METHODS Tacrolimus was administered if the effect of biologics was unsatisfactory for 24 weeks at least in terms of laboratory data or DAS28 level: ESR, CRP level and DAS28 level were not below 15 mm/h, 0.2 mg/dl or 2.6, respectively. RESULTS Tacrolimus administered in addition to biologics was significantly effective for suppressing the activity of rheumatoid arthritis in our study. The significant effect of tacrolimus appeared at the 4th week. The effect of tacrolimus achieved quite significant level at the 54th week (p< 0.0001). CONCLUSION Tacrolimus may be a promising candidate to suppress the disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis refractory to the conventional treatment with biologics.