RESEARCH - Rituximab effective for Sjogren's syndrome

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Rituximab Effective for Sjogren's Syndrome

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 25 - Rituximab can improve saliva

secretion and other parameters in patients with primary Sjogren's

syndrome, researchers report.

Rituximab binds to the B cell surface antigen CD20 and could become

the first causal systemic treatment for this disease, the

investigators say.

At the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, Dr. J.M. Meijer and

colleagues tested the drug in 30 patients with active primary

Sjogren's syndrome. To be included in the trial, patients were

required to have disease-related autoantibodies and a stimulated whole

saliva secretion of at least 0.15 mL/min.

Earlier studies had shown that patients with at least some residual

secretory ability might benefit most from rituximab, the authors

explain in their paper, which appeared online January 13th in

Arthritis and Rheumatism,

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/715790

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