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. 2012 Jan;53(1):35-42.
doi: 10.3349/ymj.2012.53.1.35.

New insights in the clinical understanding of Behçet's disease

Sung Bin Cho  1 , Suhyun Cho, Dongsik Bang
Affiliations

New insights in the clinical understanding of Behçet's disease

Sung Bin Cho et al. Yonsei Med J. 2012 Jan.

Abstract

Behçet's disease is a chronic relapsing multisystemic inflammatory disorder characterized by four major symptoms (oral aphthous ulcers, genital ulcers, skin lesions, and ocular lesions) and occasionally by five minor symptoms (arthritis, gastrointestinal ulcers, epididymitis, vascular lesions, and central nervous system symptoms). Although the etiology of Behçet's disease is still unknown, there have been recent advances in immunopathogenic studies, genome-wide association studies, animal models, diagnostic markers, and new biological agents. These advances have improved the clinical understanding of Behçet's disease and have enabled us to develop new treatment strategies for this intractable disease, which remains one of the leading causes of blindness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no financial conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Global distribution of Behçet's disease. Dot size reflects prevalence.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Diagram presenting etiopathogenesis of Behçet disease. TNF, tumor necrosis factor; IL, interleukin; CTLA-4, cytotoyic T-lymphocyte antigen-4.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Therapeutic approach to Behçet's disease. TNF, tumor necrosis factor; IFN, interferon.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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