INFO - What is Enbrel (etanercept)? What is Enbrel used for?

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What Is Enbrel (Etanercept)? What Is Enbrel Used For?

MedicalNewsToday.com

Article Date: 23 Feb 2010 - 0:00 PST

Enbrel is the trade name for Etanercept, a medication used for

treating autoimmune diseases. Enbrel is a TNF (tumor necrosis factor)

inhibitor; it interferes with TNF. TNF is made by the body's immune

system; it encourages an inflammatory response, causing many of the

clinical problems linked to autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid

arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis and

refractory asthma. People with these immune disorders have too much

TNF in their bodies.

Etanercept is a fusion protein (chimeric protein) - it is created

through the joining of two or more genes which originally coded for

separate proteins, i.e. it is a protein made from a fusion gene, which

is created by fusing (joining) parts of two different genes.

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180143.php

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