The role of etanercept in ankylosing spondylitis

J.C. Davis Jr.

Division of Rheumatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA. 

ABSTRACT
Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that leads to significant loss of function and disability in patients. Current conventional therapies have not demonstrated improvement in axial symptoms and progressive ankylosis of the spine. The use of new biologic agents that block the actions of tumor necrosis factor-alpha have, for the first time, reported significant improvement in axial symptoms and reduction in spinal inflammation in short-term studies. Future studies with larger numbers of patients over long periods of time will eventually determine the long-term success and safety of these agents.

Key words
Ankylosing spondylitis, TNF, human, controlled trial, treatment.

Please address corrspondence to:  John C. Davis Jr. MD, MPH, MS, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University of California, San Francisco, 533 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143. 
E-mail: jdavis@medicine.ucsf.edu

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2002; 20: (Suppl. 28): S111-S115.
© Copyright Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 2002.