Open AccessSuccessful Treatment with Etanercept of a Patient with Psoriatic Arthritis after Adalimumab-Related Hepatotoxicity
Author(s) -
Marco Massarotti,
Bianca Marasini
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of immunopathology and pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.724
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 2058-7384
pISSN - 0394-6320
DOI - 10.1177/039463200902200234
Subject(s) - adalimumab , medicine , etanercept , psoriatic arthritis , infliximab , rheumatoid arthritis , ankylosing spondylitis , methotrexate , tumor necrosis factor alpha , concomitant , psoriasis , pharmacology , gastroenterology , dermatology , immunology
Inhibitors of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) alpha (infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab) are nowadays widely used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), not responding to conventional therapies. Anti-TNF alpha drugs have demonstrated great efficacy in slowing the disease, however, to date, concern still remains regarding acute and long-term toxicity related to TNF block. Increase in liver tests may be observed during treatment with anti-TNF agents, more often related to concomitant drugs (i.e. NSAIDS, methotrexate) or to reactivation of chronic HBV or HCV infections. However, liver damage directly induced by the drug has been described in patients treated with infliximab or adalimumab. To our knowledge, no cases of liver injury closely related to etanercept have been reported so far. We report the case of a patient with PsA who presented liver dysfunction during adalimumab, subsequently successfully treated with etanercept.