Successful Treatment of a Bullous Pemphigoid Patient with Rituximab Who Was Refractory to Corticosteroid and Omalizumab Treatments

Omalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody which is an FDA-approved treatment of severe allergic asthma and inhibits IgE binding to FcεRI. According to increasing evidence of IgE inhibition, omalizumab was suggested as a therapeutic approach for bullous pemphigoid (BP). Rituximab has been reporte...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Case reports in dermatology 2017-01, Vol.9 (1), p.38-44
Main Authors: Bilgiç Temel, Aslı, Bassorgun, Cumhur Ibrahim, Akman-Karakaş, Ayşe, Alpsoy, Erkan, Uzun, Soner
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antigens
Asthma
Bullous pemphigoid
Case reports
Dermatology
Disease
Drug dosages
Immunoglobulins
Immunotherapy
Monoclonal antibodies
Mortality
Omalizumab
Osteoporosis
Patients
Rituximab
Single Case
Skin
Treatment
University faculty
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Omalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody which is an FDA-approved treatment of severe allergic asthma and inhibits IgE binding to FcεRI. According to increasing evidence of IgE inhibition, omalizumab was suggested as a therapeutic approach for bullous pemphigoid (BP). Rituximab has been reported to be effective in various autoimmune diseases, including autoimmune bullous dermatoses. A specific protocol for the use of rituximab to treat BP patients is not yet available. There are only small case series and case reports about the efficacy and safety of rituximab in BP. Here we present a young BP patient who responded well to rituximab therapy and was refractory to conventional and omalizumab therapies although he had elevated IgE levels and eosinophilia. Our case supports the knowledge about the effectiveness and safety of rituximab not only in pemphigus but also in BP. On the other hand, although it did not work in our case, omalizumab may be a potentially effective agent in some carefully selected patients with certain subtypes of BP.
ISSN:1662-6567
1662-6567
DOI:10.1159/000452828