Vol.22 No.2

Case Report

A case of Behçet’s disease treated with a humanized anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody, tocilizumab

Authors

Toru Hirano1 , Nobuyuki Ohguro2 , Satoshi Hohki3 , Keisuke Hagihara1 , Yoshihito Shima1 , Masashi Narazaki1 , Atsushi Ogata1 , Kazuyuki Yoshizaki4 , Atsushi Kumanogoh1 , Tadamitsu Kishimoto5 , Toshio Tanaka1

  • Department of Respiratory Medicine, Allergy and Rheumatic Diseases, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
  • Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka Koseinenkin Hospital, Osaka, Japan
  • Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
  • Center for Advanced Science and Innovation, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
  • Laboratory of Immune Regulation, Osaka University Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka, Japan
Received:

25 April 2011

Accepted:

20 June 2011

Published online:

12 July 2011

Full Text

PDF　(member's only)

Abstract

A 47-year-old female patient with Behçet’s disease had been treated with colchicine, prednisolone, cyclosporine A, and infliximab. Because she relapsed, however, treatment with tocilizumab, a humanized antiinterleukin 6 receptor antibody, was started. This treatment suppressed the patient’s clinical manifestations, including ocular attacks, for 1 year and improved her visual acuity. This experience indicates that tocilizumab may constitute a therapeutic option for refractory Behçet’s disease.

Key words

Behçet’s disease - IL-6 - Tocilizumab