We read with great interest the paper by Chen et al analysing the relationship between therapeutic response to adalimumab and etanercept and serum drug trough levels in 70 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The authors confirmed a positive association between drug levels and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response. Good responders showed significantly higher drug levels than m...

BACKGROUND Ixekizumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody against the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 17A. We report two studies of ixekizumab compared with placebo or etanercept to assess the safety and efficacy of specifically targeting interleukin 17A in patients with widespread moderate-to-severe psoriasis. METHODS In two prospective, double-blind, multicentre, phase 3 studies (UNCOVE...

Author's response to reviews: Please find enclosed our case-report entitled « Etanercept may induce neurosarcoidosis in a patient treated for rheumatoid arthritis» that we wish to submit to BMC Neurology.-This is an exceptional case of neurosarcoidosis occurring in a seropositive rheumatoid arthritis patient treated by etanercept.-This case raises the issue of the imputability of etanercept in ...

Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is a severe, potentially life-threatening disorder characterized by an excessive activation of macrophages, such as may occur in the setting of lupus. A 62-year-old Japanese woman treated with etanercept for rheumatoid arthritis developed persistent fever, cytopenia, coagulopathy, and hyperferritinemia. Simultaneously, lupus-like features including pleuritis, hypoc...

OBJECTIVE To compare the clinical and radiographic outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who received monotherapy with either etanercept or methotrexate (MTX) for 2 years and to assess the safety of this therapy. METHODS In the Enbrel ERA (early rheumatoid arthritis) trial, 632 patients with early, active RA were randomized to receive either twice-weekly subcutaneous etanercept ...

AIM To investigate the role of body mass index (BMI) and weight in the long-term efficacy of etanercept in patients with psoriasis. METHODS Medical records were retrospectively analysed. Extracted data included weight, BMI, comorbidities and psoriasis area severity index (PASI). Patients were stratified by weight (<80 kg or ≥80 kg) and BMI (healthy, BMI 22 - 24.99 kg/m2; overweight, BMI 25 - ...

Results 262 previously biologic-naive JIA-patients initiated etanercept; 71% female, 18% systemic-onset subtype. Median age at onset 6.9 (IQR 3.6-11.1) years, median followup 35.6 (IQR 17.4-53.6) months. In the long-term, the overall majority responded to etanercept and up to 40% reached inactive disease. Excellent response after 15 months (85 patients, 32%) was associated with low baseline dis...

Itching is a prevalent plaque psoriasis symptom. Ixekizumab, an IL-17A antagonist, has demonstrated rapid, significant improvements in itch severity over 12 weeks in Phase III psoriasis trials (UNCOVER-1, UNCOVER-2). We assessed the long-term (through 60 weeks) effect of ixekizumab maintenance therapy (80-mg ixekizumab every 4 weeks [IXEQ4W]) on itch severity, using the Itch Numeric Rating Scal...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate prospectively the effect of etanercept (a tumour necrosis factor [TNF]-α inhibitor) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production by mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from patients with psoriasis. METHODS MSCs from lesional and perilesional skin were isolated, cultured and characterized. VEGF production was evaluated at baseline and after 12 weeks' etanercept treatm...

BACKGROUND Perineural inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor have recently generated intense interest as an alternative to epidural steroid injections for lumbosacral radiculopathy. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether epidural steroids, etanercept, or saline better improves pain and function in adults with lumbosacral radiculopathy. DESIGN A multicenter, 3-group, randomized, placebo-controlled trial...