To study the effectiveness of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) inhibitor treatment for sarcoidosis refractory to conventional treatments.
Five patients (two men, three women) were treated with infliximab. All patients received a loading dose of 3 mg/kg at 0, 2, and 6 weeks and then maintenance infusions every 4-8 weeks. Patients had their dose increased or the dosing interval reduced when the disease relapsed. These patients had active disease despite treatment with corticosteroids and other immunomodulatory agents. All patients had a negative tuberculin skin test.
Sarcoidosis in all patients improved significantly without any serious adverse reactions.
This study suggests that TNFalpha is effective in patients for whom conventional treatment fails.