Can rituximab cause serum sickness?

Can rituximab cause serum sickness?

Classified as Type III reaction, rituximab-induced serum sickness reactions have been reported in patients with autoimmune diseases and hematological malignancies. The classic serum sickness triad (fever, rash, and arthralgia) has been observed in patients mainly with an underlying rheumatologic condition.

What are the symptoms of serum sickness?

Symptoms of serum sickness can include:

• Fever.
• General ill feeling.
• Hives.
• Itching.
• Joint pain.
• Rash.
• Swollen lymph nodes.

Is serum sickness serious?

While it can cause serious symptoms, serum sickness typically goes away on its own within a week to six weeks. If you’ve recently taken medication containing nonhuman proteins and are having symptoms, contact your doctor as soon as possible.

Is serum sickness delayed?

True Serum Sickness is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction, triggered by: Snake anti-venom, equine and rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) Monoclonal antibody drugs such as Rituximab are most often implicated.

What causes most infusion reactions to rituximab?

Cytokine release is believed to be partially responsible for most rituximab-associated infusion reactions, and levels of inflamma- tory cytokines have been shown to increase significantly during the administration of rituximab (Byrd et al., 2001).

How long does serum sickness reaction last?

The symptoms typically occur one to two weeks after exposure to an offending agent and resolve within several weeks of discontinuation.

What is the treatment for serum sickness?

Withdrawal of the offending agent is the mainstay of treatment in serum sickness. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antihistamines provide symptomatic relief. Severe cases (multisystem involvement with significant symptoms ) may warrant a brief course of corticosteroids.

Is there a systematic review of rituximab induced serum sickness?

To report a case of rituximab-induced serum sickness (RISS) and perform a systematic review and characterize RISS in autoimmune diseases and hematological malignancies. A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, ACR, and EULAR databases was performed for relevant articles of patients with RISS from inception to September 2014.

What is the average age of rituximab patients?

Statistical analysis of demographic and clinical features was performed using Microsoft EXCEL 2007 and SPSS version 20.0. In the 33 patients with RISS, the mean age of presentation was 39.1 ± 17.5 yr with a female preponderance ( n = 23, 76.67%).

What causes serum sickness in rheumatoid arthritis patients?

Serum sickness (or Type III) hypersensitivity reactions have been described less commonly in patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving rituximab [19]. In contrast to infusion reactions described above, serum sickness reactions are the result of immune activation against the infused agent, and take significantly longer (7–21 d) to mobilize.