Rheumatology: Current Research
Open Access

Abstract

Stage-IV Kaposi’s Sarcoma During Abatacept Therapy: A Case Report

Eugene Jalbert, Robert DiGiovanni and Randal Worth

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are traditionally treated with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). DMARDs have evolved throughout the years with an accelerated rate. Better understanding of molecular biology has made it possible to develop newer drugs with newer mechanisms of action. One of these drugs is abatacept, inhibiting the CD80 and CD86 on the antigen presenting cell from binding to the CD28 of the T cell. For some, this drug works amazingly. There are however side effects to these drugs, including increased risk for opportunistic infections and malignancies. The case we present in this paper is a gentleman with RA who was treated effectively with abatacept who then developed stage-IV Kaposi’s sarcoma.