Clinical aspects of the use of etanercept in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Background. Maintaining of a favourable response of tumour necrosis factor inhibitors is one of the most challenging to rheumatologist. Only limited data have been published addressing this field. The aim of our study was investigate efficacy of etanercept (ETN) and evaluate maintaining response after ETN discontinuation in patients who have achieved remission or low disease activity (REM/LDA) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. Patients with high disease activity (n = 29) received ETN 50 mg injection and methotrexate 10-20 mg once weekly were included in analysis. Frequency of REM/LDA scoring by DAS 28-joint counts and C-reactive protein level (DAS28-CRP), changes from baseline in DAS28-CRP, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), global assessment of disease activity by patient and provider (PtGA and PrGA) were evaluated. We assessed persistent of achieved REM/LDA after the ETN discontinued. Results. We saw fast decreasing of active flare already after first month: HAQ (1.4 ± 0.6 vs 2.0 ± 0.6, p = 0.048), PtGA (49.5 ± 17.9 vs 75.6 ± 14.9, p = 0.016) and PrGA (46.6 ± 14.7 vs 77.0 ± 12.3, p = 0.014). DAS28-CRP changes from baseline become significant after second month (3.9 ± 1.1 vs 6.2 ± 0.6, р = 0.005). After 6 months 82.6% patients had DAS28-CRP < 3.2 and 41.4% patients had HAQ < 0.5. Maintenance of REM/LDA lasted 3 month after ETN discontinuation. Conclusion. ETN+MTX is very effective combination in treat to target strategy of RA treatment. In patients who have achieved REM/LDA maintained stable condition during three months after ETN withdrawn. It might be consider in a number of patients in case of accidental or necessary treatment interruption.