Rituximab for the treatment of childhood chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and hemophilia with inhibitors.
Rituximab, a monoclonal chimeric antibody to the CD20 antigen, is an effective treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Moreover, rituximab has also shown efficacy in various autoimmune disorders. In this review, we will focus on the use of rituximab in childhood disorders of hemostasis associated with inhibitor formation. Although the results presented suggest that rituximab can be useful in the treatment of this subset of pediatric patients, most of the data come from isolated case reports or descriptions of small, uncontrolled series. Therefore, large, prospective, and randomized trials are needed to confirm the positive, preliminary results.
Franchini
Massimo
M
Servizio di Immunoematologia e Trasfusione-Centro Emofilia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Verona, Verona, Italy. mfranchini@univr.it
Zaffanello
Marco
M
Veneri
Dino
D
Lippi
Giuseppe
G
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019774:Blood Coagulation Factor Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D006467:Hemophilia A / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016553:Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000069283:Rituximab
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D019774:Blood Coagulation Factor Inhibitors; D000069283:Rituximab