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The autoimmune blistering disease pemphigus was sometimes fatal before the advent of corticosteroid treatment. Contemporary pemphigus therapy combines systemic corticosteroids with one or more steroid-sparing agents. However, many patients are unable to reduce corticosteroid dosage sufficiently to avoid toxicity. Rituximab, initially approved for B-cell lymphoma and now for rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, had produced remission and allowed tapering or ceasing of steroid and immunosuppressive therapy for pemphigus.
Three groups of international investigators report outcomes with a single course of rituximab for patients with pemphigus. Fifteen Dutch patients (12 pemphigus vulgaris [PV]; 3 pemphigus foliaceus [PF]), 9 Ca…