Lupus is an immune system disorder that is featured by a self-imposed attack of the body itself that causes severe pain, diffused body organ damage, and inflammation besides reducing life quality of patients.

Rheumatologists at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Vienna, Austria, found out that Rituximab is effective for treating lupus.

From News-Medical.Net:

Professor Neuwelt specialises in diagnosing and treating patients with CNS lupus. “It can be difficult to disentangle psychiatric disorders that arise from other causes,” he states. In a portion of patients, depression, seizures, verbal comprehension, perception and memory will be associated with lupus. People are understandably afraid to admit that their IQ has gone down or that they cannot read any more in fear of losing their job,” he continued. A careful history, ruling out other causes such as infection and drug side effects has improved diagnostic accuracy.

Professor Neuwelt, like others using this well-tested oncological drug in other forms of lupus, is concerned about the depletion of the B cells by rituximab for the long term. However, the risk/benefit ratio from this new treatment in its early stages is extremely promising. “It is the first drug in my 26 years of treating patients with severe central nervous system lupus, used alone or in combination with other therapies that has not only significantly boosted the quality of life for patients with this dreadful disease, but also reduced the burden of side effects of standard treatment with steroids and cyclophosphamide. However, we desperately need randomized-controlled trials.” he concluded.

Clinical professor Michael Neuwelt, at the University of California San Francisco and Stanford University, said that Rituximab can be recommended as a gentle treatment option with reduced risk of side effects.

It is worthwhile to note that the presently used treatment options for this disorder include steroids, chemotherapeutic agents, and calcineurin inhibitors and all of them have some considerable side effects.

From News-Medical.Net:

The available data suggest that current rituximab dosing achieves a 15% to 20% rate of complete remission and a 35% to 40% rate of partial remission: rates similar to the response rates of current treatments. Importantly, rituximab appears to be well-tolerated with minimal short-term side effects.

Rituximab may have potential for treating membranous nephropathy, but additional studies – in particular, randomized controlled clinical trials – are needed to prove the drug’s value. “Our conclusion is that, at present, rituximab should only be used in research settings,” said Dr. Bomback.

The authors reported no financial disclosures.

Andrew Bomback, MD (University of North Carolina Kidney Center), and his colleagues, were of the view that this study was able to suggest that rituximab dosing helps patients achieve a 15-20 percent rate of complete remission and 35-40 percent of partial remission.

It is believed by some members of the medical fraternity that this study on membranous nephropathy will help them provide great relief to their patients.