Successful short term treatment of patients with severe undifferentiated spondyloarthritis with the anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha fusion receptor protein etanercept.

Objective: Anti-tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-alpha) therapy has been successfully used in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and other subtypes of spondyloarthritis (SpA). Treatment options for patients with severe forms of undifferentiated spondyloarthritis (uSpA), a rather frequent SpA subset, are limited. In this open study we examined the efficacy of the TNF-alpha receptor fusion protein etanercept in patients with uSpA.

Six-month results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of etanercept treatment in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: There is increasing evidence that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) is centrally involved in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and other spondylarthritides. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of anti-TNFalpha therapy with etanercept, a 75-kd receptor fusion protein, in active AS.

Methods: This multicenter trial had 2 phases: an initial placebo-controlled period of 6 weeks' duration and an observational phase lasting 24 weeks.