Improvement in liver cirrhosis after treatment of HCV-related mixed cryoglobulinemia with rituximab.

ABSTRACT

Mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) is the most strictly virus-related extrahepatic HCV disease. Antiviral therapy is considered the first therapeutic option; however, MC patients are frequently excluded from treatment due to contraindications. The effectiveness of B-cell depletion by anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (rituximab) has recently been described, but the possibility of an immunodepression- related increase in viral replication and aminotransferase values limits its use in patients with advanced liver disease. Unfortunately, MC patients frequently also have cirrhosis. To our knowledge, no data are available regarding the effect of rituximab therapy in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. We report the successful treatment with rituximab (4 weekly infusions of 375 mg/m 2) of two patients (a 58-year-old man, and a 65-year-old woman) with HCV-related MC syndrome and decompensated liver cirrhosis. These patients underwent at least 6 months of post-treatment follow-up. In both cases a consistent improvement of MC syndrome was evident after treatment. In addition, improvement of liver protidosynthetic activity, increased prothrombin time, impressive reduction or disappearance of ascites and encephalopathy were also observed, in spite of some increase in viral titers or in ALT values. The Child-Pugh score improved from B8 to A6 and from Cll to B7, respectively. Pre- and post-treatment transjugular liver biopsies were available in 1 patient, showing disappearance of lymphocytic infiltration after treatment. These case reports show the effectiveness and safety of rituximab in patients with HCV-related MC and advanced cirrhosis, and strongly suggest that the depletion of CD20+ B-cells induced by rituximab treatment may be responsible for liver function improvement. The mechanisms involved are unknown. Interesting working hypotheses may implicate a role played by B-cell infiltrates in conditioning liver damage. The improvement of Kupffer cell function due to the cryocrit value reduction might also play a role.