Reply To: Have you relapsed and recovered?
I have no direct experience with CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil) but others have used it with success. CellCept is an immunosuppressive agent. It weakens your body’s immune system, to help keep it from “rejecting” a transplanted organ such as a kidney or liver. Organ rejection happens when the immune system treats the new organ as an invader and attacks it. So, it works a bit like Prednisone and other corticosteroids. There are side-affects for some.
Rituximab is a genetically engineered monoclonal antibody that targets a specific protein, known as the CD20 antigen found on the surface of normal and malignant B-lymphocytes. It coats those B-cells & T-cells so that natural killer cells recognize the marked cells as invaders. Then the body’s natural immune defenses are recruited to attack and kill the marked B-cells.
Rituxan depletes B-cells, which can cause swelling and joint damage in people with autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis. It also works by depleting B-cells in patients with other autoimmune disorders such as CIDP. By reducing the number of B-cells, Rituxan helps limit the production of auto-antibodies.
My treatments with Rituximab were responsible for putting my CIDP in remission and allowing my body to repair some of the nerve damage that was caused by my GBS/CIDP/MFS.
The side-affects I experienced are listed here: