A 55-year-old woman with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1)-associated adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and a history of previously treated Strongyloides stercoralis infection received anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody therapy with alemtuzumab on a clinical trial. After an initial response, she developed ocular involvement by ATL. Alemtuzumab was stopped and high-dose corticosteroid therapy...

Haematologica vol. 85(4):April 2000 3. Magrath IT, Adde M, Shad A, Witts RE, Horak ID. Results in adults with small non-cleaved cell lymphoma treated with a short duration intensive chemotherapy protocol also used in paediatric patients [abstract]. Proceedings ASCO 1994; 1252. 4. Waits TM, Greco FA, Greer JP, et al. Effective therapy for poor-prognosis non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with 8 weeks of hig...

Rasmussen encephalitis (RE) is a rare but devastating unihemispheric brain disorder that often affects children. The clinical picture is characterized by intractable focal epilepsy and progressive decline of functions associated with the affected hemisphere. Despite its known inflammatory background and T-cell involvement, immunotherapy appears to slow rather than halt disease progression, and ...

Sézary syndrome is a primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma characterized by the triad of erythroderma, lymphadenopathy and circulating atypical cells. The emergence of new molecular targets has enabled the development of drugs such as alemtuzumab, an anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody, which has shown promising results in the treatment of this entity. We report the case of a 70-year-old male with refrac...

Invasive aspergillosis is a disease typically related with prolonged neutropenia or the use of corticosteroids. However, the increased use of new therapeutic modalities such as biologic agents that act by blocking specific immune pathways have put more patients at risk for invasive aspergillosis. Most cases of aspergillosis in patients taking monoclonal antibodies have been associated with the ...

Alemtuzumab is a monoclonal antibody to CD52 that has activity in T-cell leukemia and lymphoma. This study aims to describe the complications and outcomes of a subset of patients with mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome who were treated with alemtuzumab. Four of 8 patients, with no prior history of cardiac problems, developed significant cardiac toxicity (congestive heart failure or arrhythmia) t...

Despite many therapeutic options for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the disease remains incurable. Since monoclonal antibodies and recombinant toxins that bind surface antigens expressed on the malignant lymphocytes have been developed, targeted therapy has become a vital option in treating CLL. Rituximab (Rituxan), a chimeric human-mouse anti-CD20 antibody, and alemtuzumab (Campath), a hu...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can still be found within the hepatocytes after its clearance and the control of viral replication depends on the immune response. However during immunosuppression, seroconversion of HBsAg has been described followed by disease reactivation. Hepatitis B virus reactivation represents an emerging cause of liver disease in patients undergoing treatment with biologic agents ...

Alemtuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the surface molecule CD52, leads to a rapid depletion of immune cells in the innate and adaptive immune system. In phase 2 and 3 trials in multiple sclerosis (MS), infections have been reported more frequently in alemtuzumab than in interferon beta treated patients. Here we report two patients treated with alemtuzumab for MS developing List...