Vol.22 No.4

Case Report

The rapid efficacy of abatacept in a patient with rheumatoid vasculitis

Authors

Wataru Fujii1 , Masataka Kohno1 , Hidetaka Ishino1 , Amane Nakabayashi1 , Kazuki Fujioka1 , Takashi Kida1 , Hidetake Nagahara1 , Ken Murakami1 , Kaoru Nakamura1 , Takahiro Seno1 , Aihiro Yamamoto1 , Yutaka Kawahito1

  • Inflammation and Immunology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajii-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, 602-8566, Japan
Received:

28 September 2011

Accepted:

4 November 2011

Published online:

29 November 2011

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Abstract

We report a case of rheumatoid vasculitis (RV) that responded well to abatacept, a cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4)-immunoglobulin fusion protein. A 38-year-old woman developed RV despite treatment with methotrexate and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors. The effects of steroid therapy, immunoabsorption plasmapheresis, and interleukin-6 inhibitor were insufficient, however, administration of abatacept rapidly improved her clinical symptomswith almost normalization of the immunological findings. This is the first published case report of the successful treatment of RV with abatacept.

Key words

Abatacept - Cytotoxic T lymphocyteassociated antigen 4 (CTLA4) - Rheumatoid vasculitis