TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tony, Hans-Peter
A1  - Burmester, Gerd
A1  - Schulze-Koops, Hendrik
A1  - Grunke, Mathias
A1  - Henes, Joerg
A1  - Kötter, Ina
A1  - Haas, Judith
A1  - Unger, Leonore
A1  - Lovric, Svjetlana
A1  - Haubitz, Marion
A1  - Fischer-Betz, Rebecca
A1  - Chehab, Gamal
A1  - Rubbert-Roth, Andrea
A1  - Specker, Christof
A1  - Weinerth, Jutta
A1  - Holle, Julia
A1  - Müller-Ladner, Ulf
A1  - König, Ramona
A1  - Fiehn, Christoph
A1  - Burgwinkel, Philip
A1  - Budde, Klemens
A1  - Sörensen, Helmut
A1  - Meurer, Michael
A1  - Aringer, Martin
A1  - Kieseier, Bernd
A1  - Erfurt-Berge, Cornelia
A1  - Sticherling, Michael
A1  - Veelken, Roland
A1  - Ziemann, Ulf
A1  - Strutz, Frank
A1  - von Wussow, Praxis
A1  - Meier, Florian MP
A1  - Hunzelmann, Nico
A1  - Schmidt, Enno
A1  - Bergner, Raoul
A1  - Schwarting, Andreas
A1  - Eming, Rüdiger
A1  - Schwarz-Eywill, Michael
A1  - Wassenberg, Siegfried
A1  - Fleck, Martin
A1  - Metzler, Claudia
A1  - Zettl, Uwe
A1  - Westphal, Jens
A1  - Heitmann, Stefan
A1  - Herzog, Anna L.
A1  - Wiendl, Heinz
A1  - Jakob, Waltraud
A1  - Schmidt, Elvira
A1  - Freivogel, Klaus
A1  - Dörner, Thomas
A1  - Hertl, Michael
A1  - Stadler, Rudolf
T1  - Safety and clinical outcomes of rituximab therapy in patients with different autoimmune diseases: experience from a national registry (GRAID)
JF  - Arthritis Research & Therapy
N2  - Introduction: 

Evidence from a number of open-label, uncontrolled studies has suggested that rituximab may benefit patients with autoimmune diseases who are refractory to standard-of-care. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and clinical outcomes of rituximab in several standard-of-care-refractory autoimmune diseases (within rheumatology, nephrology, dermatology and neurology) other than rheumatoid arthritis or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in a real-life clinical setting. 

Methods: 

Patients who received rituximab having shown an inadequate response to standard-of-care had their safety and clinical outcomes data retrospectively analysed as part of the German Registry of Autoimmune Diseases. The main outcome measures were safety and clinical response, as judged at the discretion of the investigators. 

Results: 

A total of 370 patients (299 patient-years) with various autoimmune diseases (23.0% with systemic lupus erythematosus, 15.7% antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated granulomatous vasculitides, 15.1% multiple sclerosis and 10.0% pemphigus) from 42 centres received a mean dose of 2,440 mg of rituximab over a median (range) of 194 (180 to 1,407) days. The overall rate of serious infections was 5.3 per 100 patient-years during rituximab therapy. Opportunistic infections were infrequent across the whole study population, and mostly occurred in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. There were 11 deaths (3.0% of patients) after rituximab treatment (mean 11.6 months after first infusion, range 0.8 to 31.3 months), with most of the deaths caused by infections. Overall (n = 293), 13.3% of patients showed no response, 45.1% showed a partial response and 41.6% showed a complete response. Responses were also reflected by reduced use of glucocorticoids and various immunosuppressives during rituximab therapy and follow-up compared with before rituximab. Rituximab generally had a positive effect on patient well-being (physician’s visual analogue scale; mean improvement from baseline of 12.1 mm)
KW  - GRAID
Y1  - 2011
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-142856
VL  - 13
IS  - R75
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stengel, Helena
A1  - Vural, Atay
A1  - Brunder, Anna-Michelle
A1  - Heinius, Annika
A1  - Appeltshauser, Luise
A1  - Fiebig, Bianca
A1  - Giese, Florian
A1  - Dresel, Christian
A1  - Papagianni, Aikaterini
A1  - Birklein, Frank
A1  - Weis, Joachim
A1  - Huchtemann, Tessa
A1  - Schmidt, Christian
A1  - Körtvelyessy, Peter
A1  - Villmann, Carmen
A1  - Meinl, Edgar
A1  - Sommer, Claudia
A1  - Leypoldt, Frank
A1  - Doppler, Kathrin
T1  - Anti–pan-neurofascin IgG3 as a marker of fulminant autoimmune neuropathy
JF  - Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
N2  - Objective 
To identify and characterize patients with autoantibodies against different neurofascin (NF) isoforms.

Methods 
Screening of a large cohort of patient sera for anti-NF autoantibodies by ELISA and further characterization by cell-based assays, epitope mapping, and complement binding assays.

Results 
Two different clinical phenotypes became apparent in this study: The well-known clinical picture of subacute-onset severe sensorimotor neuropathy with tremor that is known to be associated with IgG4 autoantibodies against the paranodal isoform NF-155 was found in 2 patients. The second phenotype with a dramatic course of disease with tetraplegia and almost locked-in syndrome was associated with IgG3 autoantibodies against nodal and paranodal isoforms of NF in 3 patients. The epitope against which these autoantibodies were directed in this second phenotype was the common Ig domain found in all 3 NF isoforms. In contrast, anti–NF-155 IgG4 were directed against the NF-155–specific Fn3Fn4 domain. The description of a second phenotype of anti–NF-associated neuropathy is in line with some case reports of similar patients that were published in the last year.

Conclusions 
Our results indicate that anti–pan-NF-associated neuropathy differs from anti–NF-155-associated neuropathy, and epitope and subclass play a major role in the pathogenesis and severity of anti–NF-associated neuropathy and should be determined to correctly classify patients, also in respect to possible differences in therapeutic response.
KW  - neurology
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202462
VL  - 6
IS  - 5
ER  -