Effectiveness of Rituximab in Pediatric OMS Patients.

Summary

The purpose of this study is to reduce the symptoms of OMS by testing rituximab (Rituxan®), to remove B lymphocytes that make antibodies and trigger brain inflammation. Evidence suggests that autoimmune brain inflammation causes the symptoms of OMS. This study of blood and spinal fluid intends to find out what effect rituximab has on OMS and on the spinal fluid B-cells. Rituximab targets and destroys B-cells, which make antibodies that can attack the brain and cause may OMS. It is infused through a vein over a period of several hours. Rituximab has been used widely and studied extensively since its approval in 1997 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for non-Hodgkin's B-cell Lymphoma (NHL). Today, more than 300,000 patients have received rituximab, and it is part of more than 200 completed, ongoing, or planned clinical trials. Rituximab is not FDA-approved for OMS.

Timeline

Start

2005-06

Primary completion

2007-12

Completion

2007-12

Publications

• Pranzatelli MR, Tate ED, Travelstead AL, Verhulst SJ. Chemokine/cytokine profiling after rituximab: reciprocal expression of BCA-1/CXCL13 and BAFF in childhood OMS. Cytokine. 2011 Mar;53(3):384-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2010.12.004. Epub 2011 Jan 5.
• Pranzatelli MR, Tate ED, Verhulst SJ, Bertolone SJ, Bhatla D, Granger M, Lebowizc J, Lockhart SK, Wiley JM. Pediatric dosing of rituximab revisited: serum concentrations in opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2010 Jul;32(5):e167-72. doi: 10.1097/MPH.0b013e3181cf0726.
• Pranzatelli MR, Tate ED, Travelstead AL, Colliver JA. Long-term cerebrospinal fluid and blood lymphocyte dynamics after rituximab for pediatric opsoclonus-myoclonus. J Clin Immunol. 2010 Jan;30(1):106-13. doi: 10.1007/s10875-009-9335-3. Epub 2009 Oct 17.

Drugs

Indications