John Libbey Eurotext




Delayed response of oral pemphigus vulgaris to rituximab treatment
European Journal of Dermatology. Volume 16, Number 3, 266-70, May-June 2006, Therapy
Free Article
Author(s) : Andrea Niedermeier, Petra Wörl, Sandra Barth, Gerold Schuler, Michael Hertl
Summary : Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody directed against the CD20 antigen of B cells, which has been developed for the treatment of lymphomas and has been successfully used in the treatment of recalcitrant pemphigus vulgaris. Here, we report on a 26-year-old patient with an 18 month history of pemphigus vulgaris of the oral mucosa where treatment with rituximab led to a delayed but sustained therapeutic response. This case is of interest since most of the previous reports have described a more rapid clinical improvement of refractory pemphigus by rituximab treatment. The delayed clinical response to rituximab of the present case may be explained by the persistence of long-lived plasma cells that continued to produce pathogenic autoantibodies against desmoglein 3.
Keywords : IVIG, intravenous immunoglobulins, PF, pemphigus foliaceus, PV, pemphigus vulgaris

Delayed response of oral pemphigus vulgaris to rituximab treatment