Abstract
Immunosuppressants are used in various autoimmune diseases, and these agents are important in the therapy of patients with vasculitis (polyarteritis nodosa (PN), Wegener's granuloma (WG) ) and steroid resistant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) . Cyclophosphamide (CY) is mainly used in these diseases. Especially, in patients with PN and WG, this agent is received as the initial therapy. In patients with steroid resistant SLE, interavenus CY (IVCY) is recently used. In other therapy resistant disease, CY are also first used, while azathioprine (AZ) is secondly used in patients with side effects by CY. MTX is used in patients with refractory RA, PM and adult onset Still disease (AOSD) . However, this agent can not be used in patients with interstitial pneumonitis. In patients with refractory pneumonitis, cyclosporine A (CyA) is recently used. This agent is also used in patients with refractory SLE, RA, psoriasis and Behçet's disease. Thus, various immunosuppressants are used in various autoimmune diseases. However, since the method of therapy for these agents are not completely established, the further study will be needed.
