Vol.21 No.6

Review Article

Guidance on using tocilizumab for juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Authors

Shumpei Yokota1 , Tomoyuki Imagawa1 , Syuji Takei2 , Takuji Murata3 , Minako Tomiita4 , Yasuhiko Itoh5 , Satoshi Fujikawa6 , Masaaki Mori7

  • Department of Pediatrics, Yokohama City University, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, 236-0004, Japan
  • School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan
  • Department of Pediatrics, Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Japan
  • Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
  • Department of Pediatrics, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
  • Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
  • Department of Pediatrics, Yokohama City University Medical Center, 4 -57 Urafune-cho, Minami-ku, Yokohama, 232-0024, Japan
Received:

15 February 2011

Accepted:

22 April 2011

Published online:

20 May 2011

Full Text

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Abstract

Medical care for rheumatic disease in children has been supported by advances in rheumatology. In the past few years and based on knowledge about cytokines, particularly marked advances have been made in treatments using biological products. The fact that patients showed a marked response to treatment with biological products also provided uniform direction to treatment choice, which had previously been chaotic. On the other hand, biological products inhibit the action of physiologically essential substances, such as inflammatory cytokines or their receptors. This led to concerns about the risk of fatal or life-threatening adverse reactions, and rheumatologists are now required to take a disciplined approach to the use of these products. Thus, we sincerely hope that this guidance on using tocilizumab for juvenile idiopathic arthritis serves as a desk reference for pediatric rheumatologists and other healthcare professionals treating children with rheumatic diseases by biological drugs.

Key words

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis - Guidance - Tocilizumab (anti-IL-6 receptor antibody) - Corticosteroid