RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Infusion-related reactions (IRRs) are major side effects of rituximab administration. Male sex, high body weight, body surface area (BSA), and body mass index are predictive markers of rituximab-induced IRRs. However, as rituximab was not administered at a fixed dosage in a previous study, whether a higher dosage or factors associated with a larger physique are more strongly associated with rituximab-induced IRRs is unknown. MAIN BODY: Thirteen adults with frequently relapsing minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) who received an initial rituximab dose of 500 mg between September 2015 and November 2022 were retrospectively evaluated. Data on IRRs were collected from medical records. The incidence of rituximab-induced IRRs was 38.5% (5/13). The IRR group had a significantly higher BSA than the non-IRR group (median, 1.86 vs. 1.48 m2; p = 0.045). Additionally, rituximab dosage normalized by BSA in the IRR group was significantly lower than that in the non-IRR group (median, 268.8 vs. 337.9 mg/m2; p = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that adults with frequently relapsing MCNS who experienced IRRs tend to have a higher BSA, even with fixed-dose rituximab treatment. Therefore, when patients with higher BSA receive rituximab treatment, clinicians should be careful about monitoring patient condition whether the dosage is fixed or not.
RESUMO
Infusion-related reactions (IRRs) are the major side effects of rituximab administration. Although several studies have reported predictive markers for IRRs in patients with malignancies, there are no such reports for patients without malignancies. Accordingly, we aimed to clarify the predictive markers for rituximab-induced IRRs in renal transplant recipients. This retrospective study included 116 inpatients aged ≥18 years who received an initial dose of 150 mg/m2 of rituximab for desensitization before renal transplantation with loxoprofen and diphenhydramine before rituximab infusion between June 2007 and February 2022. Overall, 45 patients were evaluated and 71 patients were excluded in this study. IRRs were observed in 12 (26.7%) patients. The proportion of men in the IRRs group was significantly higher than that in the non-IRRs group (p = 0.023). Additionally, body weight, body surface area (BSA), and body mass index (BMI) were significantly higher in the IRRs group than in the non-IRRs group (body weight, p = 0.0058; BSA, p = 0.0051; BMI, p = 0.017). Their cutoff values for predicting rituximab-induced IRRs, based on the receiver-operating characteristic curve, were 74.850 kg, 1.910 m2 and 24.164 kg/m2, respectively. In conclusion, the male sex, high actual body weight, BSA, and BMI may be new predictive markers for rituximab-induced IRRs in renal transplant recipients. Therefore, clinicians should carefully monitor patients who receive rituximab before renal transplantation and present with the predictive markers.
