Laura Gombošová
The biological therapy represents recent and effective treatment of chronic, immune mediated inflammatory diseases of the joints, gastrointestinal tract and skin, that do not respond to a standard medicament use. It does not restrict itself to a blockade of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), however also of other cytokines, cytokine receptors and adhesive molecules, respectively. The anti-TNF-α therapy is the subgroup of the biological therapy, aimed at neutralization of TNF-α, the key cytokine of pathogenesis of chronic diseases. The anti-TNF-α therapy is indicated for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylarthritis, psoriasis vulgaris and psoriatic arthritis, Crohn´s disease and ulcerative colitis, respectively. The purpose of this article is to describe immune profile of both, infliximab and adalimumab, which have been frequently used in the clinical praxis now. However, except of their positive effect, they can induce production of autoantibodies (antinuclear antibodies /ANA/, and anti double strain of DNA /anti-ds DNA/) and in rare cases autoimmune processes, too. Presence of autoantibodies in patients plasma is not limiting factor for discontinuation of the treatment. However, when associated with clinical manifestations, it is the indication for the treatment disruption.