Etanercept uveitis

Etanercept (a TNF inhibitor) is now frequently given to patients with rheumatoid arthritis by weekly injection.  A few cases of uveitis have been associated with the commencement of etanercept injections.  Some patients have developed deep white matter lesions in the brain and there is a case report of optic neuritis (demyelination of the optic nerve) after etanercept therapy.

Furthermore, when TNF inhibitors have been used to treat uveitis, patients have been found to respond to infliximab but not etanercept (just as in Crohns disease, for example).  Unfortunately, for benefit in rheumatoid arthritis, infliximab works better in conjunction with methotrexate, which some patients cannot tolerate.