ABSTRACT

Biological treatments are the medications which specifically target one of the immunological or genetic mediators involved in the pathogenesis of a disease. The number and spectrum of biological agents, which require advanced technology and cost highly, are constantly increasing. The biological agents that are commonly used in rheumatology include anti-TNF inhibitors, IL-1β inhibitors, tocilizumab which inhibits IL-6R, rituximab RTX which depletes B cells and abatacept which is a T cell co-stimulation inhibitor. Besides, there are also new biological agents to be used in the near future. They constitute an important treatment alternative for the disease groups such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, familial Mediterranean fever, adult Still's disease and ANCA-associated systemic vasculitis, especially for the patients who are resistant to conventional therapies.