OBJECTIVE To compare the benefits of initiating treatment with methotrexate (MTX) and infliximab (anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha [anti-TNFalpha] monoclonal antibody) with those of MTX treatment alone in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of < or =3 years' duration. METHODS RA patients were eligible if they had active disease and no prior treatment with MTX or a TNFalpha inhibitor. One ...

BACKGROUND Serum infliximab trough levels correlate with efficacy; dose escalation is often beneficial in patients with Crohn's disease who stop responding to infliximab treatment. OBJECTIVE To carry out a post hoc analysis of A Crohn's Disease Clinical Trial Evaluating Infliximab in a New Long-term Treatment Regimen I (ACCENT I) to evaluate the association between serum infliximab trough lev...

BACKGROUND The effect of multiple infusions of infliximab (INF), a chimeric anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha antibody, on the concentration of hexosaminidase (HEX) activity in a synovial cell culture derived from human synovial inflamed fluid obtained from patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been evaluated. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to prove INF efficacy in RA. ...

BACKGROUND The efficacy of infliximab therapy in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) is unknown beyond 12 months. For patients who lose their initial response, consideration can be given to dose "escalation" to regain therapeutic benefit. AIM Our primary goal was to evaluate the long-term durability of maintenance infliximab treatment. The secondary goals were to identify potential predictors ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Treatment with infliximab induces remission in about 70% of patients with steroid refractory Crohn's disease. Because Crohn's disease is considered to be mediated by uncontrolled activation of mucosal T lymphocytes, we hypothesised that infliximab could induce apoptosis of T lymphocytes. METHODS Induction of apoptosis in vivo was studied in 10 patients with therapy refract...

BACKGROUND The introduction of infliximab has greatly advanced the therapeutic armamentarium of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Although the benefit/risk ratio for infliximab is positive, of particular concern has been the problem of immunogenicity ascribed to the chimeric properties of the drug. Antibody formation is associated with allergic react...

BACKGROUND/AIMS In patients with corticosteroid-refractory ulcerative colitis (UC), cyclosporine or infliximab may be added to the treatment regimen to induce remission. Here, we aimed to compare the efficacy of cyclosporine and infliximab. METHODS Between January 1995 and May 2012, the medical records of 43 patients with corticosteroid-refractory UC who received either infliximab or cyclospo...

The anti-TNF-alpha chimeric monoclonal antibody infliximab is the first biologic to be approved for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Japan, and post-marketing surveillance of all of the Japanese cases treated with infliximab has been conducted to explore the safety of infliximab therapy. In addition, a retrospective clinical study on the notable efficacy and related factors of infliximab therapy in...

BACKGROUND Efficacy of infliximab in treating ulcerative proctitis remains unknown. AIM To evaluate the clinical, biological and endoscopic efficacy of infliximab therapy in refractory proctitis. METHODS The charts of 420 patients treated with infliximab for ulcerative colitis were reviewed. Thirteen patients were treated with infliximab for refractory ulcerative proctitis in six referral c...

OBJECTIVES Therapeutic drug monitoring of infliximab improves treatment outcomes, but available assays to monitor infliximab lack speed to implement treatment algorithms immediately. Our aim is to validate a rapid, lateral flow-based assay (LFA) for quantitative determination of infliximab and to assess thresholds associated with mucosal healing in patients with ulcerative colitis. METHODS Sa...