Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently emerging disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Notably, the safety of immunosuppressive medications is a major concern during an infectious disease pandemic. Rituximab (RTX), as a monoclonal antibody against CD20 molecule, is widely used for the treatment of various diseases, mostly autoimmune diseases and some malignancies. Previous studies indicated that RTX, as an immunosuppressive medication, may be associated with the increased risk of infections. Moreover, given the wide use of RTX, a necessity of determining the different aspects of RTX use in the COVID-19 era is strongly felt. We reviewed current studies on the clinical courses of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. It appears that the use of RTX does not increase morbidity and mortality in most patients. However, underlying diseases and other concomitant medications may play a role in the disease course, while the concerns of vaccine efficacy in patients receiving RTX still need to be addressed. Therefore, more controlled studies are needed for a better conclusion.
Keywords: COVID-19; Immune system diseases; Rituximab; SARS-CoV-2.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, rituximab, SARS-CoV-2., immune system diseases, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus disease 2019, Efficacy, Vaccine, pandemic, Diseases, monoclonal antibody, Infection, Infectious disease, underlying disease, coronavirus 2, Autoimmune disease, Clinical course, infections, Patient, emerging disease, morbidity and mortality, respiratory, patients, CD20, increased risk, Concomitant medication, malignancies, previous study, Immunosuppressive medication, Course, caused, indicated, the disease, receiving, appear, addressed, patients with SARS-CoV-2, RTX, 【제목키워드】 review, history, narrative, Taking,