# Successful Treatment of Refractory Mucocutaneous Behçet's Disease With Gastrointestinal Involvement Using Anti-tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha (Anti-TNF-α) Therapy

**Authors:** Manar Elfatih Mohamed, Raghad Mazin Al-Issa, Hassan Ahmed, Ali Emad Al-Zaidy, Faisal Elbadawi

PMC · DOI: 10.7759/cureus.84937 · Cureus · 2025-05-27

## TL;DR

A 33-year-old man with severe, treatment-resistant Behçet's disease, including gastrointestinal symptoms, achieved full remission using adalimumab biosimilar.

## Contribution

Demonstrates the effectiveness of adalimumab biosimilar in treating refractory gastrointestinal and mucocutaneous Behçet's disease.

## Key findings

- The patient achieved full remission after starting adalimumab biosimilar.
- Anti-TNF-α therapy is increasingly supported for severe gastrointestinal Behçet's disease.
- Conventional drugs failed to control the patient's disease before anti-TNF-α treatment.

## Abstract

Behçet's disease is a systemic inflammatory disorder that manifests with recurrent oral and genital ulcers, skin lesions, and ocular disease. Current available classification criteria greatly depend on mucocutaneous manifestations. Gastrointestinal involvement is particularly rare and often presents significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report the case of a 33-year-old male with uncontrolled Behçet’s disease, presenting with cutaneous vasculopathic ulcers and gastrointestinal manifestations despite being on conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (CDMARDs), who achieved full remission following initiation of adalimumab biosimilar. This case highlights the effectiveness of adalimumab biosimilar in managing refractory mucocutaneous and gastrointestinal manifestations of Behçet’s disease. Most of the evidence available is from observational data. There is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) therapy in severe gastrointestinal Behcet’s disease. Anti-TNF-α may be considered in some cases.

## Linked entities

- **Proteins:** TNF (tumor necrosis factor)
- **Diseases:** Behçet's disease (MONDO:0007191)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** TNF (tumor necrosis factor) [NCBI Gene 7124] {aka DIF, IMD127, TNF-alpha, TNFA, TNFSF2, TNLG1F}
- **Diseases:** skin lesions (MESH:D012871), Gastrointestinal Involvement (MESH:D005767), ocular disease (MESH:D005128), oral and genital ulcers (MESH:D019226), systemic inflammatory disorder (MESH:D018746), Behcet's Disease (MESH:D001528), cutaneous vasculopathic ulcers (MESH:D014456)
- **Chemicals:** adalimumab (MESH:D000068879)

## Full text

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## Figures

3 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12203035/full.md

## References

10 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12203035/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12203035