Durable remission of HIV-negative, Kaposi's sarcoma herpes virus-associated multicentric Castleman disease in patient with rheumatoid arthritis treated with methotrexate.
Multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) is a nonneoplastic lymphoproliferative disorder that has a poor prognosis. Optimal treatment is unknown. There are a few reported cases of MCD and rheumatoid arthritis. In this study, we report a patient with rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus-(KSHV, human herpesvirus-8) associated MCD that showed expression of viral IL-6. Treatment with methotrexate (MTX) resulted in a complete remission of her disease lasting for 54+ months. Multiple studies have suggested that MCD and rheumatoid arthritis are associated with overexpression of the growth-promoting cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), and that MTX downregulates the production of this cytokine in vivo. As such, we suggest that the dramatic improvement in this patient's disease is due to the immunomodulatory properties of MTX.
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh 15232, USA. jacobssa@upmc.edu
Samuel A
SA
Jacobs
Nicholas
N
Vidnovic
Hitendra
H
Patel
Lorinda A
LA
Soma
Yuan
Y
Chang
Noah
N
Bass
Steven H
SH
Swerdlow
D000368:Aged; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000378:metabolism; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005871:Castleman Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012074:Remission Induction / Q000379:methods; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
D000956:Antigens, Viral; C508600:IL6 protein, human; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D015850:Interleukin-6; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C109540:latency-associated nuclear antigen; D008727:Methotrexate