ABSTRACT
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inammatory condition primarily affecting synovial joints. The panacea of medical treatment remains clinical remission with inhibition of joint destruction. Over the last few years, a better understanding into the molecular pathogenesis of RA has led to the development of biologic therapies targeted at specic components of the inammatory and immune cascades. These include monoclonal antibodies or fusion proteins that neutralize the function of specic cytokines (such as tumor necrosis factor alpha, or TNFα, and interleukin-1), deplete particular cell types, or inhibit cell activation. Biologic therapy of RA has met with signicant success. The quality of the response is often better than with traditional drugs, particularly in terms of preventing joint destruction, although not
Abstract .................................................................................................................... 61 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 62
Pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis ................................................................. 62 Monitoring Disease Activity and Outcome ......................................................... 63
Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Blockade .........................................................................64 Efcacy of Anti-TNFα Drugs ..............................................................................65
