Hemophilia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Hemophilia, including details on genetics, causes, symptoms, blood transfusion.

Rituximab for the treatment of childhood chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and hemophilia with inhibitors.

Franchini M, Zaffanello M, Veneri D, Lippi G

Servizio di Immunoematologia e Trasfusione-Centro Emofilia, Azienda Ospedaliera di Verona, Verona, Italy. mfranchini@univr.it

Rituximab, a monoclonal chimeric antibody to the CD20 antigen, is an effective treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Moreover, rituximab has also shown efficacy in various autoimmune disorders. In this review, we will focus on the use of rituximab in childhood disorders of hemostasis associated with inhibitor formation. Although the results presented suggest that rituximab can be useful in the treatment of this subset of pediatric patients, most of the data come from isolated case reports or descriptions of small, uncontrolled series. Therefore, large, prospective, and randomized trials are needed to confirm the positive, preliminary results.

Published 28 May 2007 in Pediatr Blood Cancer, 49(1): 6-10.
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