Treatment of retinal vasculitis in Behçet's disease with rituximab

Abstract

Behçet's disease (BD) is more common in eastern than western countries. Physicians have frequently encountered problems in its treatment, especially eye involvement. Recurrent oral and genital aphthous ulcerations are the hallmarks of Behçet's disease but other organs can be involved and ocular disease is one of the most disabling manifestations. Up to now, there are some problems in treatment of the retinal vasculitis due to Behçet's disease. We reported one patient, with visual loss due to retinal vasculitis that was resistant to prednisolone and azathioprine. Our patient was treated successfully with rituximab and his remission was sustained for 24 months of follow-up. Rituximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that acts against the specific B cell antigen, CD20. The recent success of rituximab in autoimmune diseases, which is considered to be T cell-mediated, indicates that B cells must have a much broader role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases than generally appreciated.