BACKGROUND Late onset neutropenia (LON) secondary to rituximab has been reported as an adverse event in the treatment of hematological malignancies but reports on autoimmune diseases are scarce. AIM To review the characteristics of LON in rheumatologic patients from a single center. DESIGN Retrospective case record study. METHODS Clinical and laboratory data since the introduction of ritu...

Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement fixation both appear to play a role in mediating antitumor effects of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), including rituximab. We evaluated the relationship between rituximab-induced complement fixation, natural killer (NK)-cell activation, and NK cell-mediated ADCC. Down-modulation of NK- cell CD16 and NK-cell activation induced by ritux...

AIM Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) is a serious treatment-resistant phenotype of systemic lupus erythematosus. A standard treatment for NPSLE is not available. This report describes the clinical and laboratory tests of 10 patients with NPSLE before and after rituximab treatment, including changes in lymphocyte phenotypes. METHODS Rituximab was administered at different ...

Rituximab is an anti-CD-20 monoclonal antibody used in the management of lymphoproliferative disorders. The use of maintenance rituximab has improved progression free survival and overall survival in follicular lymphomas. Although rapid rituximab infusions have been studied extensively, there is little data on the use of rapid infusions during maintenance therapy for low grade lymphomas. The pr...

BACKGROUND The standard treatment for patients with diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma is cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP). Rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody against the CD20 B-cell antigen, has therapeutic activity in diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma. We conducted a randomized trial to compare CHOP chemotherapy plus rituximab with CHOP alone in elderly patients...

PURPOSE This phase I infusion rate escalation trial was undertaken to evaluate the maximum applicable infusion rate for rituximab without steroid premedication in patients having received one previous rituximab infusion. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Cohorts of at least three patients were assigned to rituximab with or without concomitant chemotherapy. The initial infusion rate was 200 mg/h in the firs...

BACKGROUND Rituximab inhibited structural damage at 1 year in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had had a previous inadequate response to tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors. OBJECTIVE To assess structural damage progression through 2 years. METHODS Intention-to-treat patients with one post-baseline radiograph (rituximab n=281; placebo n=187) received background methotrexate (...

Rituximab (MabThera, Rituxan) is a chimeric IgG1 monoclonal antibody that specifically targets the CD20 surface antigen expressed on normal and neoplastic B-lymphoid cells. Rituximab is currently used in the treatment of both follicular and aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Despite its demonstrated clinical effectiveness, its in vivo mechanisms of action remain unknown and could differ b...

Rituximab is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that has been used to treat several complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) including nephritis, cerebritis, and hematological disorders. Neutropenia is among the adverse events associated with rituximab; this usually occurs several weeks after therapy. However, early-onset neutropenia has been reported only in a few cases. Herein, we de...

Recently, Bucher et al. addressed rational graft-versushost disease (GVHD) prophylaxis (December 2012 issue of this Journal). The authors addressed calcineurin inhibition and T-cell immune modulation but fully overlooked the important results obtained with rituximab that have been reported in the prevention of acute and chronic GVHD. Initial reports on the potential role of rituximab in chronic...