The use of rituximab as an adjuvant in the treatment of oral pemphigus vulgaris

BACKGROUND Pemphigus vulgaris patients with exclusive oral involvement (OPV) treated with conventional immunosuppressive therapy may be non-responders or experience severe side effects and/or relapses. In such cases, rituximab could be used as an adjuvant in recalcitrant OPV patients. METHODS A retrospective single-center study on patients with oral pemphigus vulgaris treated with RTX at a dose of 375 mg/m2 was performed, evaluating the complete clinical and immunological remission, side effects of RTX, and possible correlation between anti-desmoglein (Dsg) 3 antibodies and clinical remission. RESULTS We treated 10 OPV patients, of which 60% had a moderate and 40% mild disease severity before therapy with RTX. Complete clinical remission (CCR) was achieved in 100% of OPV patients, of which 20% developed side effects and 20% experienced a relapse in a mean time of 15.2 ± 10.2 weeks. The mean time for CCR was achieved in 19.8 ± 10.3 weeks, whereas the duration of the CCR consisted in 37.4 ± 33.5 weeks. OPV patients underwent a mean follow-up of 57.2 ± 37.7 weeks. In all patients, the mean of pemphigus disease area index (PDAI) decreased from 20.3 ± 14.1 to 0.4 ± 0.0, whereas the mean Dsg3 value dropped from 157.1 ± 40.6 to 67.0 ± 26.6 after therapy with RTX. However, no correlation was found between PDAI and anti-Dsg3 antibodies before and after therapy with RTX (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS RTX represents a valid and safe alternative as an adjuvant in OPV patients with low rate of relapses and side effects.