New biologic-response modifiers in ocular inflammatory disease: beyond anti-TNF treatment

Abstract

Current treatment guidelines for chronic ocular inflammatory disease recommend the use of steroid-sparing agents. The development of conventional immunomodulatory agents has largely changed the visual outcome in these patients. However, disease refractory to these treatment modalities has led to the use of new biologic-response modifiers, agents that target specific components of the pathogenetic process. The purpose of this review is to summarize the mechanism of action, experimental evidence, side effects and current experience with the use of rituximab, daclizumab, abatacept, anakinra and IFN-α in ocular inflammatory disease.