Risk of Herpes Zoster in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated With Anti-TNF-a Agents

• Published in: JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association Vol. 301; no. 7; pp. 737 - 744
• Main Authors: STRANGFELD, Anja, LISTING, Joachim, HERZER, Peter, LIEBHABER, Anke, ROCKWITZ, Karin, RICHTER, Constanze, ZINK, Angela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL American Medical Association 18.02.2009
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Drug therapy; General aspects; Herpes viruses; Human viral diseases; Infections; Infectious diseases; Inflammatory joint diseases; Inhibitor drugs; Medical sciences; Monoclonal antibodies; Rheumatoid arthritis; Risk factors; Viral diseases; Viral diseases with cutaneous or mucosal lesions and viral diseases of the eye; Human; Immunopathology; Skin disease; Nervous system diseases; Herpes zoster; Cytokine; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Anti-TNF; Autoimmune disease; Patient; Risk; Inflammatory joint disease; Infection; Medicine; Chronic; Treatment; Viral disease; Rheumatoid arthritis; Risk factor; Tumor necrosis factor α
• ISSN: 0098-7484; 1538-3598

The risk of bacterial infection is increased in patients treated with drugs that inhibit tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-α). Little is known about the reactivation of latent viral infections during treatment with TNF-α inhibitors. Here, Stangefeld et al investigate whether TNF-α inhibitors together as a class, or separately as either monoclonal anti-TNF-α antibodies (adalimumab, infliximab) or a fusion protein (etanercept), are related to higher rates of herpes zoster in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Furthermore, they conclude that treatment with monoclonal anti-TNF-α antibodies may be associated with increased risk of herpes zoster. However, they note that such treatment requires further study.