Wegener's granulomatosis: is biologic therapy useful?
Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is a complex autoimmune disorder that has been transformed from a uniformly lethal process to a chronic disease with a relapsing-remitting course. In the setting of frequent relapses, the need to manage cumulative disease damage and drug toxicities has spurred the identification and development of new potent and directed therapies. Biologic agents, which offer the potential for remission-induction and drug-sparing approaches to treat WG, have been studied in several small, open-label clinical series and one large, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. This article discusses the results of these trials and the potential of these biologic agents to treat WG.
Sarraf
Pasha
P
Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Kay
Jonathan
J
Friday
Robert P
RP
Reginato
Anthony M
AM
D000818:Animals; D001691:Biological Therapy; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D014890:Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D007155:Immunologic Factors