TUESDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment with etanercept inhibits tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha but does not affect the severity of joint ankylosis, according to the results of a study in a mouse model of spondylarthritis (SpA) published in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Frank P. Luyten, M.D., Ph.D., of the University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium, and colleagues conducted a 25-week study of male mice with spontaneous arthritis. During weeks 12 through 25, the mice received either a twice weekly dose of etanercept or a placebo. They also conducted a parallel study of the effects of etanercept in a mouse model of induced arthritis.
The study showed that etanercept inhibited mouse TNF-alpha in vitro and in vivo. And although etanercept significantly reduced the severity of induced arthritis, the researchers found that it was no more effective than placebo in inhibiting new cartilage or bone formation in spontaneous arthritis.
"Inhibition of TNF did not affect the severity and incidence of joint ankylosis in a mouse model of SpA. Therefore, the process of entheseal ankylosis may be independent of TNF," the authors write. "New tissue formation in SpA could be considered an additional and specific therapeutic target."
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