부산대학교 도서관

Rituximab (RTX) is an antibody against the cell surface CD20 antigen expressed on B cells. It has been reported to successfully treat autoimmune bullous disease, and it was approved by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for refractory pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus in December 2021. Prior to its approval, we employed RTX to treat 4 cases of autoimmune bullous diseases refractory to existing treatments. Those included two cases of pemphigus vulgaris, one case of pemphigus foliaceus, and one case of laminin gamma 1 bullous pemphigoid. All four cases clinically improved after RTX treatment, but two cases relapsed. No serious adverse events were observed. We report those four cases and discuss the therapeutic effects of RTX.