title: Safety of Interferon Alpha-2a in Patients with Severe Ophthalmic Behçet's Disease: Response to Bielefeld et al.'s Letter.
abstract: Thyroid dysfunction is a common and severe side-effect encountered in up to 40% of patients treated with IFN-alpha-2a. The main two mechanisms by which IFN-alpha-2a induces thyroid dysfunction can be categorized as autoimmune and non-autoimmune disease. In the first subgroup, thyroid antibodies are found before treatment initiation, and then patients develop thyroiditis. In the second subgroup, IFN-alpha-2a induces thyroiditis by a direct cytotoxic effect on the thyroid gland; in this case, thyroid antibodies are usually negative. To avoid such complications, patients should undergo routine thyroid screening (thyroid-stimulating hormone and thyroid antibodies) prior to IFN-alpha-2a initiation, during the treatment period, and 6 months after treatment withdrawal.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences , Hospital University Tidjani Damerdji , Tlemcen , Algeria.
authors.forename: Mohammed El Amine
authors.initials: MEA
authors.lastname: Ghembaza
authors.affiliation: a Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences , Hospital University Tidjani Damerdji , Tlemcen , Algeria.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lounici
mesh_terms: D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins