Tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors and chronic hepatitis C: A comprehensive literature review

Table 1 Safety of tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors in patients with hepatitis C virus

Drug	Patients with HCV	Mean follow-up	Patients/yr	Elevation in AST/ALT	Elevation in HCV-RNA	Drug withdrawal due to
	infection (n)	(yr)	exposure	serum level > 3 ULN	(>1 log above baseline)	liver toxicity
Etanercept	153	1.14	174.49	31	5	2
Infliximab	40	1.59	63.64	2	4	1
Adalimumab	23	0.97	22.43	0	0	0

¹Elevation of transaminases without concomitant increase of HCV viremia in two cases. HCV: Hepatitis C virus; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; ULN: Upper limit of normal.