Biological Treatments in Behçet’s Disease: Beyond Anti-TNF Therapy

Table 3

Studies reporting on patients with Behçet’s disease treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (rituximab).

First author (reference, year)	𝑁 pts	Main BD clinical and laboratory features	HLA-B51	Previous biologic agents and causes of withdrawal	Dosage and eventual cotherapies	Followup	Outcome
Sadreddini (2008) [58]	1	Mucosal involvement, arthritis, posterior uveitis, retinal vasculitis, and chronic renal failure (of unknown origin)	NR	ETN: ADR (fever, urticaria, macular rushes, angioedema, transient new lymphopenia, and positive antinuclear antibody test)	RTX 1 g every two weeks for two doses + PDN 1 mg/kg/day	24 months	CR of retinal vasculitis within few months and PDN was tapered to 5 g/day
Davatchi (2010) [59]	10	Mucosal, ocular, and articular involvement; skin manifestations	NR	None	RTX 1 g every two weeks for two doses + PDN 0.5 mg/kg/day + MTX 15 mg/week	6 months	Improvement of ocular manifestations after 6 months. TADAI significant improvement on RTX. VA improved in two patients, remained unchanged in 1, and worsened in 7. Significant improvement of retinal, disc, and macular oedema in all patients
Zhao (2014) [60]	1	Fever, mucosal involvement, arthritis, EN, leukocytoclastic vasculitis, increase of CRP	NR	IFX: inefficacy; ETN: acute mononeuritis multiplex	RTX 1 g every two weeks for two doses + PDN 15 mg/day + MTX 20 mg/week + colchicine	12 months	CR after the 3rd infusion; improved clinical control of disease activity and reduction in steroids requirements (PDN tapered to 8 mg/day)

ADR: adverse reactions; BD: Behçet’s disease; CR: complete remission; CRP: C-reactive protein; EN: erythema nodosum; ETN: etanercept; HLA: human leukocyte antigen; IFX: infliximab; MTX: methotrexate; 𝑁: number; NR: not reported; pts: patients; PDN: prednisone; RTX: rituximab; TADAI: total adjusted disease activity index; VA: visual acuity.