Rituximab-Induced Serum Sickness Is More Frequent in Autoimmune Diseases

“Finally, the fact that the efficacy of rituximab was not optimal in almost a quarter of our patients may be explained by the incomplete administration of treatment and the information bias related to the mode of data collection, but also the neutralization of rituximab within immune complexes,” write the authors. “Indeed, studies have described a correlation between [human anti-chimeric antibodies] and an incomplete clinical response to rituximab.”

Lara C. Pullen, PhD, is a medical writer based in the Chicago area.

References

1. Karmacharya P, Poudel DR, Pathak R, et al. Rituximab-induced serum sickness: A systematic review. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2015 Dec;45(3):334–340.
2. Bayer G, Agier MS, Lioger B, et al. Rituximab-induced serum sickness is more frequent in autoimmune diseases as compared to hematological malignancies: A French nationwide study. Eur J Intern Med. 2019 Jul 3. pii: S0953-6205(19)30192-X. [Epub ahead of print]