Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is a chronic disease that may result in permanent disability, requiring sometimes aggressive treatment. While some patients may have an inadequate response to methotrexate and to other immunosuppressive drugs, others do not tolerate them. In these patients tumor necrosis factor inhibitors such as etanercept, infliximab and adalimumab are indicated. Multicentric and randomized studies have shown that etanercept is efficacious in disease control, reaching best effects within the first three months of therapy with sustained clinical improvement up to two years of continuous treatment. There are no published controlled studies involving children receiving infliximab and adalimumab, but their effects seem to be similar to that of etanercept. These drugs are relatively safe but it may be observed infectious complications, including tuberculosis and herpes zoster. Autoimmune events, lymphoproliferative disorders and other adverse reactions such as headache and abdominal pain barely occur. Nevertheless, it is important to emphasize that despite overall beneficial effects of TNF inhibitors, their long term effects remain undefined and therefore indications must be criterious. In addition, the high cost of these drugs limits their use, specially in our country.
Tumor necrosis factor inhibitors; juvenile idiopathic arthritis; anti-TNF; juvenile rheumathoid arthritis
