A Case of Successful Third Renal Transplantation Using Rituximab (anti-CD20 Monoclonal Antibody) in a Highly Sensitized Patient

Rituximab, chimeric murine/human anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, has been currently used as treatment of follicular non-Hodgkins lymphoma and posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease. Nowadays, rituximab has also been utilized in the renal transplantation to get over acute rejection in highly sensitized patients. We hereby report a case of successful renal transplantation in a highly sensitized patient, who has been done the 3rd renal transplantation. A 44-year-old male patient admitted for the 3rd renal transplantation. His previous 2 transplantations failed because of acute rejection. We tried plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulin, widely used as pretransplantation management in high risk patients. In addition to these, we applied 2 times of rituximab (375 mg/m2) before transplantation at interval of 1 week. The renal function of the patient has been within the normal range without any evidence of rejection 6 months after transplantation.