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Treatment of adult inflammatory myositis with rituximab: An emerging therapy for refractory patients
Journal of Clinical Rheumatology (JCR), 10/08/09

Shefali M et al. – Early uncontrolled clinical experience indicates that rituximab may be a valuable therapeutic agent for treatment of refractory IIM. Further investigation regarding the optimal dosing regimen, treatment length, and long-term safety profile of rituximab therapy for IIM is warranted.

Methods

Describe the clinical courses of 3 patients with IIM treated with rituximab after unsatisfactory responses to conventional therapy
Performed search of English language literature utilizing PubMed, and identified 8 articles that also described use of rituximab for treatment of IIM

Results

Improvement in patients was manifested by increase in muscle strength and decline in creatinine kinase levels in all 3 patients
Recurrent muscle weakness and elevated muscle enzymes occurred in 2 patients postinfusion; retreatment with rituximab resulted in similar clinical improvement
Our experience, and that 20 of 21 patients described in 8 cited reports demonstrate a favorable clinical response in patients treated with B-cell depletion therapy for II

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