Table 2.

Rituximab monotherapy for the treatment of autoimmune complications in CLL

Number of patients and type of autoimmune disorder	Treatment protocol	Outcome	Reference
2 PRCA	375 mg/m2/week for 8 weeks	Normalized hemoglobin levels and transfusion independence	Ghazal H. et al [52]
4 AIHA, 1 ITP, 1 CAD	375 mg/m2/week for 4 weeks	CR in 1 AIHA, 1 CAD and 1 ITP, mantained for 8+, 38+ and 6 months respectively	Zaya F. et al [54]
14 AIHA	375 mg/m2/week for 4 weeks	CR 22%, PR 50%, 8 alive (6 transfusion-free) after a mean follow-up of 17 months	D’Arena G. et al [55]
3 ITP	375 mg/m2/week for 4 weeks	Rise in platelet counts in all 3 patients, maintained for 17+, 6+ and 6 months	Hedge UP. Et al [56]
21 ITP (2 associated with AIHA)	375 mg/m2/week for 4 weeks	CR 57%, PR29% (mean duration of response 21 months)	D’Arena G. et al [57]

PRCA: pure red cell aplasia; AIHA: autoimmune hemolytic anemia ; ITP: immune thrombocytopenic purpura Immune thrombocytopenic purpura ; CAD: cold agglutinin disease; CR: complete remission; PR: partial remission.