The use of etanercept in a patient with disseminated tuberculosis.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a central regulator of chronic inflammatory diseases and plays a major role in the host immune system against tuberculosis (TB). TNF antagonists, infliximab and etanercept are effective in treating chronic inflammatory diseases by inhibiting TNF, but increase the risk of TB as a result of immunosuppression. Previous studies have shown that the risk of TB is greater in patients who received infliximab than in those who received etanercept and several hypotheses on the action mechanisms of the two agents have been presented in order to explain this difference in the risk of TB. As the clinical use of TNF antagonists increase, the incidence rate of TB may increase. Therefore, it is necessary that clinicians considering the use of TNF antagonists pay much attention to the prevention and control of TB and understand the mechanisms of action of the TNF antagonists. This case shows that etanercept treatment can be safely administered during the treatment of TB. In the future, additional studies will be needed to determine the safety of etanercept and the optimal time for the administration of etanercept during the TB treatment.