Repeated Treatment With Rituximab Based on the Assessment of Peripheral Circulating Memory B Cells in Patients With Relapsing Neuromyelitis Optica Over 2 Years Su-Hyun Kim, MD; Woojun Kim, MD, PhD; Xue Feng Li, MD, MSc; In-Ja Jung, RN; Ho Jin Kim, MD, PhD Arch Neurol. ?2011;68(11):1412-1420. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2011.154 Objective? To evaluate the efficacy and safety of repeated rituximab treatment based on the assessment of peripheral circulating memory B cells over 24 months in patients with relapsing neuromyelitis optica (NMO).
There are several molecular entities common to the immune and nervous systems. Salient among them are the chemokines and their receptors, which play remarkably varied and potent roles in immunobiology and neurobiology
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory demyelinating disorder of the CNS. Recent studies have suggested diverse mechanisms as underlying demyelination, including a subset of lesions induced by an interaction between metabolic insult to oligodendrocytes and inflammatory mediators
BACKGROUND: Under the therapeutic point of view, neuromyelitis optica (NMO) poses major challenges. Patients with NMO manifest severe disability from recurrent demyelinating lesions and the therapies are only partially effective. We performed a retrospective analysis of the records of patients followed at our institution and provide suggestions for management of acute relapses and preventive therapy.