Table 1

Evolution of patients with DM or PM on anti-TNF treatment

Patient number	Sex	Age (years)	DM/PM	Duration of DM/PM (years)	Drugs tried before anti-TNF treatment	Pre-treatment CK (U/l)	Anti-TNF agent	Concurrent drugs	Post-treatment CK (U/l)	Clinical response	Follow-up
AZA, azathioprine; biw, twice weekly; CK, creatine kinase; CY, cyclophosphamide; D/C, discontinued; DM, dermatomyositis; F, female; IVIG, intravenous immunoglobulin G; IVM, intravenous methylprednisolone; LEF, leflunomide; M, male; MMF, mycophenolate mofetil; MTX, methotrexate; PDN, prednisone; PM, polymyositis; TNF, tumour necrosis factor
1	F	33	PM	10	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, MTX	9959	Etanercept 25 mg biw	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, MTX	7905	Improved	At 9 months still on etanercept
2	F	44	DM	3	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, MTX	4380	Etanercept 25 mg biw	PDN, IVM, IVIG, MTX	69	Improved	D/C etanercept after 8 months because she felt better.
3	F	41	PM	7	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, MTX, MMF	1996	Etanercept 25 mg biw	PDN, IVIG, AZA	1164	Improved	D/C etanercept after 2 months because of candida esophagitis.
						5489			4584		At 12 months still on etanercept; recurrent esophagitis treated with fluconazole.
4	F	41	DM	2	PDN, IVM, IVIG, MTX	3198	Infliximab 3 mg/kg	PDN, IVIG, MTX	5311	Partial response	Worsened after 3 infusions.
						5311	Etanercept 25 mg biw		2214		Improved after 3 months treatment. Self D/C because of sinus problems.
						8772	Infliximab 3 mg/kg		4508		Restarted on remicade and improved; D/C after 14 months→ lost efficacy.
5	M	73	DM	13	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, MTX, LEF	132	Infliximab 3 mg/kg	PDN, IVM, IVIG, MTX	77	No benefit	D/C infliximab after 4 infusions.
6	M	68	PM	11	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, MTX	105	Etanercept 25 mg biw	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, MTX	31	No benefit	D/C etanercept after 5 months; complications: nasal congestion, cardiac irregularity.
7	M	60	PM	14	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA	1224	Etanercept 25 mg biw	PDN, IVM, IVIG	700	Improved	At 24 months still on etanercept.
8	F	70	PM	8	PDN, IVM, IVIG, AZA, CY	450	Etanercept 25 mg biw	PDN, IVM, IVIG	270	Improved	D/C etanercept s/p 20 months when splenic tumour/ascites were diagnosed.