title: Emerging drugs for uveitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Uveitis is a challenging disease covering both infectious and noninfectious conditions. The current treatment strategies are hampered by the paucity of randomized controlled trials and trials comparing the efficacy of different agents.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review describes the current and future treatments of uveitis. A literature search was performed in PUBMED from 1965 to 2010 on drugs treating ocular inflammation with emphasis placed on more recent, larger studies. Readers should gain a basic understanding of current treatment strategies beginning with corticosteroids and transitioning to steroid sparing agents. Steroid sparing agents include antimetabolites such as methotrexate, azathioprine and mycophenolate mofetil; calcineurin inhibitors which include cyclosporine, tacrolimus; alkylating agents which include cyclophosphamide and chlorambucil; and biologics which include the TNF-α inhibitors infliximab, adalimumab and etanercept and daclizumab, IFN-α(2a) and rituximab.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Newer agents are typically formulated from existing drugs or developed based on new advances in immunology. Future treatment will require a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in autoimmune diseases and better delivery systems in order to provide targeted treatment with minimal side effects.
authors.affiliation: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. larsonta@nei.nih.gov
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Nussenblatt
authors.forename: H Nida
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Sen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D014605:Uveitis / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents