Uveitis and immunosuppressive drugs

P Kulkarni - Journal of ocular pharmacology and therapeutics, 2001 - liebertpub.com
P Kulkarni
Journal of ocular pharmacology and therapeutics, 2001liebertpub.com
Uveitis, inflammation of the eye, is a common occurring disease resulting from a wide variety
of traumatic and immunogenic insults and, in most cases, can be treated successfully by
corticosteroids. However, corticosteroids have severe side effects. Alternative therapy is
using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents like indomethecin, diclofenac and flurbiprofen.
The uveitic cases are prominent in the third world countries, and many of the patients are not
responsive or become refractory to steroidal or nonsteroidal therapy. Therefore, there is …
Uveitis, inflammation of the eye, is a common occurring disease resulting from a wide variety of traumatic and immunogenic insults and, in most cases, can be treated successfully by corticosteroids. However, corticosteroids have severe side effects. Alternative therapy is using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents like indomethecin, diclofenac and flurbiprofen. The uveitic cases are prominent in the third world countries, and many of the patients are not responsive or become refractory to steroidal or nonsteroidal therapy. Therefore, there is another class of compounds "immunosuppressive drugs" found to be successful in treating uveitis. These include cyclosporin A, tacrolimus, and sirolimus. However, being immunosuppressive they also have side effects. Therefore, the effective therapy with lower side effects is the treatment with combination of these drugs in lower dosages. Cyclosporin A plus sirolimus or tacrolimus in threshold doses alleviate signs of uveitis with lower incidence of side effects.
Mary Ann Liebert