From the Popular Press: What Your Patients are Reading

New research conducted at the University of Rochester Medical Center has found that anti-TNF compounds prescribed to patients with autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are providing a previously unrecognized benefit to patients' immune systems. Anti-TNF drugs, which include Enbrel® (etanercept), Humira®, and Remicade®, inhibit a chemical messenger that fires up the immune system. The findings of the recent study indicate that these drugs also reduce the activity of abnormal B-cells, which play a critical role in autoimmune disorders. B-cells, produced in germinal centers and used to mark invading cells for destruction, should only appear when an infection is present and should fade away after recovery, however, they remain active in patients with autoimmune diseases. Anti-TNF drugs appear to disrupt the formation of cells that link these germinal centers, decreasing the number of abnormal B-cells. This added benefit of TNF-targeted therapy has not been adequately studied, but studies are being planned. These findings might also be useful in studying why some RA patients respond to certain drugs better than others.

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