Immunoadsorption, Dexamethasone Pulse Therapy and Rituximab for Pemphigus

Summary

Pemphigus is a severe autoimmune blistering disease mediated by circulating antibodies against certain proteins important for maintaining skin integrity. Protein A immunoadsorption is a dialysis-like technique selectively removing the antibodies from patient's blood. Rituximab is a synthetic antibody capable of destroying B cells. B cells are responsible for production of antibodies in the patients blood that, in turn, lead to clinical signs of pemphigus. Dexamethasone pulse therapy is a high-dose short-term corticosteroid therapy that may be used to suppress autoantibody production in pemphigus. While each of these three therapies had been used to treat pemphigus, none was shown effective in all cases. The hypothesis of this study is that a combination of protein A immunoadsorption, rituximab and dexamethasone is more effective that either of these treatments alone in achieving a rapid and durable improvement or cure in patients with pemphigus.

Timeline

Start

2008-01

Primary completion

2011-07

Completion

2011-07

Drugs

Indications