OBJECTIVES Rituximab is an effective treatment in patients with established rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objective of the IMAGE study was to determine the efficacy of rituximab in the prevention of joint damage and its safety in combination with methotrexate (MTX) in patients initiating treatment with MTX. METHODS In this double-blind randomised controlled phase III study, 755 MTX-naïve pat...

The anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab is associated with rare but significant adverse events, notably posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We report a case of concomitant ARDS and PRES developing after rituximab therapy for treatment of cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis. There are 7 reported cases of PRES complicating rituximab use...

Recent systematic reviews assessing the role of rituximab in the management of patients with acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) identified 2 major observational studies describing relapse after rituximab treatment. One report described a significantly decreased frequency of relapse in 40 patients who, in addition to plasma exchange (PEX) and high-dose corticosteroids, were treat...

The introduction of cyclophosphamide and high-dose glucocorticoids for anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) has allowed a reduction in 1-year mortality from 80% to 10-20%. AAV is now a chronic disease, and greater emphasis has turned to improving treatment-related toxicity, reducing relapses and providing alternative treatments for refractory disease. Rituximab,...

PURPOSE Targeting malignant B cells using rituximab (anti-CD20) has improved the efficacy of chemotherapy regimens used to treat patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Despite the promising clinical results obtained using rituximab, many patients relapse with therapy-resistant disease following rituximab-based treatments. We have created a cell line model of rituximab resistance using three B-ce...

Purpose: Individually targeting B-cell antigens with monoclonal antibody therapeutics has improved the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). We examined if the antitumor activity of rituximab, CD20-specific antibody, could be improved by simultaneously targeting CD40 with the humanized monoclonal antibody dacetuzumab (SGN-40). Experimental Design: Dacetuzumab was dosed with rituximab to dete...

BACKGROUND Rituximab has broad and increasing application in rheumatic diseases. It is known from lymphoma studies that natural killer (NK) cells can lyse rituximab-coated transformed B cells. However, the role of NK cells in mediating rituximab-induced depletion of non-malignant B cells is unknown. The purpose of this study was to provide fundamental data on rituximab-mediated effects on NK ce...

The anti-CD20 antibody rituximab is useful in the treatment of certain B-cell malignancies, most notably non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Its efficacy has been increased when used in combination with chemotherapy, yet anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directly conjugated with drugs such as doxorubicin (Dox) have failed to deliver drug or to demonstrate antitumor activity. We have produced anti-CD20...

Purpose: To elucidate the mechanistic basis for efficacy of intrathecal rituximab. We evaluated complement activation as well as the pharmacokinetics of intraventricular rituximab in patients who participated in two phase 1 multicenter studies. ExperimentalDesign:Weevaluated complement activation as a candidatemediator of rituximabwithin the central nervous system (CNS). Complement C3 and C5b-9...