Rituximab combined with conventional therapy versus conventional therapy alone for the treatment of mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP)

Abstract

Background: The use of rituximab for refractory autoimmune blistering diseases is increasing. Data related to rituximab for the treatment of mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) are limited.

Objective: We sought to compare the efficacy of adding rituximab with traditional immunosuppressive therapies in the treatment of MMP. The primary outcome was achievement and time to disease control.

Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of MMP from August 2001 to June 2015 who had greater than 6 months of follow-up after the initiation of therapy were reviewed.

Results: In all, 24 patients were treated with rituximab and 25 were treated with conventional immunosuppression. Of patients, 100% in the rituximab group achieved disease control compared with 40% in the conventional group (P < .01), with a mean time to disease control of 10.17 months and 37.7 months (P = .02). Adverse events were seen in 33% of patients after rituximab, compared with 48% of patients in the conventional group (P = .2).

Limitations: Rituximab dosing was not uniform and the 2 groups were not matched in terms of disease severity, nor were they randomized.

Conclusions: Our study indicates that the addition of rituximab to conventional therapy in patients with MMP results in more rapid and sustained disease control with potentially fewer adverse events.

Keywords: autoimmune blistering disease; cicatricial pemphigoid; immunosuppression; mucous membrane pemphigoid; ocular pemphigoid; rituximab.