Tocilizumab: is there life beyond anti-TNF blockade?

Jose Delgado Alves (1, 2) , António Marinho (3) , Maria José Serra (4)

1 Departamento Farmacologia
2 Medicine IV - Autoimmune Diseases Unit
3 Medicina
4 Medicina

Anti-TNF-α therapy has become the most effective biologic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Despite having changed the prognosis of the disease, establishing new targets for treatment strategy, there are several aspects that still remain unmatched. About 30% of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a less than satisfactory response to anti-TNF therapy, which has led the way for the pursuit of new targets and approaches to treatment. IL-6 is one of these alternative targets and data from the more recent clinical trials involving tocilizumab (an anti-IL-6 soluble receptor antibody) suggest advantages in relation to some clinical aspects which are not addressed by anti-TNF-α treatment.

Mots clés: Medicine

Jose Delgado Alves, António Marinho, Maria José Serra. Tocilizumab: is there life beyond anti-TNF blockade?. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 2011, 65 (4), pp.508. ⟨10.1111/j.1742-1241.2010.02612.x⟩. ⟨hal-00612024⟩