Sustained Remission with Tocilizumab in Refractory Relapsing Polychondritis with Ocular Involvement: A Case Series

ABSTRACT

Objective: Describe our experience with tocilizumab in the treatment of refractory relapsing polychondritis with ocular involvement.

Methods: Retrospective consecutive interventional case series that included all patients that received tocilizumab for the treatment of relapsing polychondritis with ocular manifestations.

Results: Three cases were selected and the duration of tocilizumab treatment ranged from 1 to 2 years. One of our patients received tocilizumab as a first-line immunosuppressive treatment directly after prednisone. All achieved complete response to tocilizumab 1 month after treatment initiation. No advert events were reported during the follow-up period except for transient neutropenia without any associated infection.

Conclusion: Our three cases suggest that tocilizumab may be an effective and safe treatment for ocular manifestation associated with relapsing polychondritis.

KEYWORDS:

• Relapsing polychondritis
• scleritis
• uveitis
• tocilizumab
• anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody

Disclosure statement

None of the authors has conflict of interest with the submission.