Rituximab treatment of pemphigus foliaceus: A retrospective study of 12 patients

Abstract

Pemphigus foliaceus (PF) is a chronic autoimmune blistering disease caused by pathogenic serum autoantibodies against desmoglein 1. Initial treatments for PF include systemic corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, and dapsone.1 Rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody specific to the CD20 molecule on B cells, was shown to be effective for severe and refractory cases of pemphigus in a meta-analysis.2 The researchers also tried to analyze the efficacy of this treatment for PF, but the results were based on heterogeneous case series and reports. Our aim was to evaluate the clinical response to rituximab in a series of patients with PF. This study has been approved by our Institutional Review Board.