[Autoimmune aspects of treatment with TNF-alpha inhibitors]

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of such diseases as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and juvenile chronic arthritis. Recent years have brought improvement in the understanding of the pathogeneses of these diseases, resulting in the production of new groups of biological drugs, including, among others, anti-TNF-alpha antibodies. The use of TNF inhibitors has been a great advance in the treatment of patients with these inflammatory diseases. Infliximab and adalimumab are monoclonal antibodies that bind to and neutralize the activity of TNF-alpha. Infliximab is a mouse/human chimera that joins the variable regions of a mouse antibody to the constant region of human IgG1. Adalimumab is a fully human IgG1 antibody. Etanercept is a dimeric fusion protein that joins the human p75 TNF receptor to the Fc domain of human IgG1. The beneficial effects of the anti-TNF monoclonal antibodies infliximab and adalimumab and the soluble receptor fusion protein etanercept in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, especially in patients resistant to other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), are discussed. We observe stoppage of articular destruction during treatment with TNF-alpha inhibitors. Soon after the introduction of this therapy it was found that these agents have a propensity for stimulating the production of autoantibodies and antibodies against themselves. In this review, recent studies analyzing the effect of TNF-alpha blockade (infliximab, etanercept, and adalimumab) on the ANA, anti-dsDNA, and anticardiolipin antibody profiles in autoimmune diseases are discussed.