title: Tocilizumab: is there life beyond anti-TNF blockade?
abstract: Anti-TNF-α therapy has become the most effective biological treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Despite having changed the prognosis of the disease establishing new targets for treatment strategy, there are several aspects that still remain unmatched. About 30% of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a less than satisfactory response to anti-TNF therapy, which has led the way for the pursuit of new targets and approaches to treatment. IL-6 is one of these alternative targets and data from the more recent clinical trials involving tocilizumab (an anti-IL-6 soluble receptor antibody) suggest advantages in relation to some clinical aspects which are not addressed by anti-TNF-α treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine IV, Fernando da Fonseca Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal. jose.alves@fcm.unl.pt
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marinho
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Serra
mesh_terms: D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012074:Remission Induction / Q000379:methods; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*
chemical_list: D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C502936:tocilizumab; D008727:Methotrexate