Data of safety in a single-center alemtuzumab treated population
Maria di Ioia,
Vincenzo Di Stefano,
Deborah Farina,
Valeria Di Tommaso,
Daniela Travaglini,
Erika Pietrolongo,
Stefano L. Sensi,
Marco Onofrj,
Giovanna De Luca
Affiliations
Maria di Ioia
MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, Chieti, Italy; Corresponding author. MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, 66100 Chieti, Italy.
Vincenzo Di Stefano
Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy
Deborah Farina
MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, Chieti, Italy
Valeria Di Tommaso
MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, Chieti, Italy
Daniela Travaglini
MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, Chieti, Italy
Erika Pietrolongo
MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, Chieti, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy
Stefano L. Sensi
Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy; Molecular Neurology Unit, Neurology Unit, Center for Advanced Studies and Technology - CAST, G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy
Marco Onofrj
MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, Chieti, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti, Italy
Giovanna De Luca
MS Center, Neurologic Clinic, “SS. Annunziata” Hospital, Chieti, Italy
Alemtuzumab is approved for highly active MS and, in Europe, can be employed after other disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) as an escalation approach or first therapeutic option. The occurrence of secondary autoimmune adverse events and infections differs depending on the employed approach.In the manuscript entitled “Alemtuzumab treatment of multiple sclerosis in real-world clinical practice: report from a single Italian center” by di Ioia M. and collaborators, efficacy and safety data of alemtuzumab were evaluated in a real-world MS population. The aim of the article is to describe in detail the unexpected serious adverse events which occurred in this cohort during and after the administration of the alemtuzumab treatment.Adverse events were observed in 45,7% of the patients. These events were ranked as severe in 23% of the patients. We reported, in particular, cases of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), pancytopenia, viral hepatitis E and noninfectious meningo-encephalomyelitis. Keywords: Multiple sclerosis, Alemtuzumab, Safety, Adverse events, Secondary autoimmune disorders, Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
