Rheumatology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Influence of therapy with chimeric monoclonal tumour necrosis factor-alpha antibodies on intracellular cytokine profiles of T lymphocytes and monocytes in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
It has been shown that T lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages, producing pro-inflammatory cytokines, play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In recent placebo-controlled double-blind randomized studies, chimeric (human/mouse) tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) antibodies (cA2) proved to be very effective in improving clinical disease activity and reducing inflammatory parameters in RA. ⋯ Anti-TNFalpha therapy might down-regulate the monocytic capacity to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines and induces a shift to a more pronounced anti-inflammatory T(H2) cytokine production.