No abstract available.
Thrombocytopenia* ; Rituximab

Summary Pemphigus refers to a group of life-threatening, autoimmune blistering disease that presents as blisters and erosions involving the skin and mucosa. Systemic corticosteroids and rituximab have been recommended as mainstay therapy for pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus. Herein, we report three cases of pemphigus vulgaris and a case of pemphigus foliaceus treated with rituximab as first-line therapy.
Rituximab ; Pemphigus

No abstract available.
Humans ; Myositis* ; Rituximab

No abstract available.
Lymphoma, B-Cell* ; Rituximab

Pulmonary toxicity is a rare complication of Rituximab therapy. Although Rituximab is relatively safe and can be administered in an outpatient setting, Rituximab-associated lung disease has been reported and may cause mortality despite early detection. Typically the pulmonary toxicity occurs at around the fourth cycle of Rituximab. High index of suspicion is crucial and other concurrent pathology such as infective causes should be excluded. Radiological imaging and histological confirmation should be obtained and early treatment with corticosteroid should be initiated. Patients should receive counselling regarding respiratory symptoms and possible pulmonary toxicity.
Rituximab ; Lung Diseases

No abstract available.
Red-Cell Aplasia, Pure* ; Rituximab*

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is estimated to be refractory in approximately 10% of patients with generalized MG. A 35-year-old man was diagnosed as generalized MG with thymoma. Despite aggressive immunotherapies, his myasthenic symptoms relapsed five times within one year. We therefore administered rituximab for treating the refractory MG, and this resulted in remission. There are few reports on treating MG with rituximab, but this case suggests that rituximab can be an effective treatment option for refractory MG.
Adult ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Myasthenia Gravis* ; Rituximab* ; Thymoma

Immune checkpoint inhibitor is associated with variety of immune-related adverse events. We present a case of polyneuropathy induced by immune checkpoint inhibitor, which was refractory to steroid and immunoglobulin. While high-dose steroid and immunoglobulin were not effective, we tried rituximab which is effective in other immune-mediated polyneuropathy. After rituximab treatment, patient's clinical symptom and nerve conduction study finding was markedly improved. We suggest rituximab might be effective in polyneuropathy induced by immune checkpoint inhibitor.
Autoimmune Diseases ; Immunoglobulins ; Neural Conduction ; Polyneuropathies ; Rituximab

No abstract available.
Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Rituximab ; Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia

Monoclonal antibodies are designed to bind specifically to certain antigen, give therapeutic effect to the target and to be produced in large scale with homogeneity. The monoclonal antibodies conjugated with radionuclide can deliver therapeutic irradiation to the target, and showed successful results in certain malignancies, which is known as radioimmunotherapy. The target-to-background ratio depends on the antigen expression in the target and normal tissues, which is related to the therapeutic efficacy and toxicity in radioimmunotherapy. For the solid tumor beta-ray energy should be high, but lower beta energy is better for the hematological malignancies. I-131 is widely used in thyroid cancer with low cost and high availability. Labeling monoclonal antibody with I-131 is relatively simple and reproducible. Some preclinical data for the I-131 labeled monoclonal antibodies including acute toxicity and efficacy are available from already published literatures. In KIRAMS, physician sponsored clinical trial protocols using Rituximab, KFDA approved anti-CD20 chimeric monoclonal antibody and I-131 were approved by KFDA and currently are ongoing.
Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; Immunoconjugates* ; Radioimmunotherapy* ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Rituximab