Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Rituximab in neuromyelitis optica: A review of literature
Ericka Wong, Vijay A Vishwanath, Ilya Kister, Department of Neurology, NYU Multiple Sclerosis Care Center, New York, NY 10026, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this manuscript; Wong E and Vishwanath VA contributed equally to this work.
Supported by The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation, EMD-Serono/Pfizer, Biogen Idec, Serono and Novartis, and served on advisory board for Biogen Idec (Kister I).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Ilya Kister, MD, Department of Neurology, NYU Multiple Sclerosis Care Center, 240 E 38th St, New York, NY 10026, United States. ilya.kister@nyumc.org
Telephone: +1-212-5986305
Received: November 10, 2014
Peer-review started: November 11, 2014
First decision: December 26, 2014
Revised: January 12, 2015
Accepted: February 4, 2015
Article in press: February 9, 2015
Published online: March 28, 2015
Processing time: 141 Days and 0.5 Hours
Peer-review started: November 11, 2014
First decision: December 26, 2014
Revised: January 12, 2015
Accepted: February 4, 2015
Article in press: February 9, 2015
Published online: March 28, 2015
Processing time: 141 Days and 0.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Relapsing neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system that often results in severe disability and death if untreated. Rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, appears to be a promising treatment option for NMO. In this review, we summarize the results of 13 observational studies that assessed efficacy of Rituximab in neuromyelitis optica. On average, 66% of patients remained relapse-free during treatment period and in the majority of patients disability scores have stabilized or improved. Monitoring response to rituximab with CD19+ and CD 27+ cell counts appears to improve outcomes.