{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,4]],"date-time":"2026-07-04T04:19:42Z","timestamp":1783138782366,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,7]],"date-time":"2023-03-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1678147200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Rituximab (RTX) is considered a potential therapeutic option for relapsing-remitting (RRMS) and progressive forms (PMS) of multiple sclerosis (MS). The main objective of this work was to investigate the effectiveness and safety of rituximab in MS.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Patients and methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Observational multicenter study of clinical and radiological effectiveness and safety of rituximab in RRMS and PMS.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 479 rituximab-treated patients were included in 12 Spanish centers, 188 RRMS (39.3%) and 291 (60.7%) PMS. Despite standard treatment, the annualized relapse rate (ARR) the year before RTX was 0.63 (<jats:italic>SD<\/jats:italic>: 0.8) and 156 patients (41%) had at least one gadolinium-enhanced lesion (GEL) on baseline MRI. Mean EDSS had increased from 4.3 (<jats:italic>SD:<\/jats:italic> 1.9) to 4.8 (<jats:italic>SD<\/jats:italic>: 1.7) and almost half of the patients (41%) had worsened at least one point. After a median follow-up of 14.2 months (<jats:italic>IQR:<\/jats:italic> 6.5\u201327.2), ARR decreased by 85.7% (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001) and GEL by 82.9%, from 0.41 to 0.07 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001). A significant decrease in EDSS to 4.7 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.046) was observed after 1 year of treatment and this variable remained stable during the second year of therapy. There was no evidence of disease activity in 68% of patients. Infusion-related symptoms were the most frequent side effect (19.6%) and most were mild. Relevant infections were reported only in 18 patients (including one case of probable progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Rituximab could be an effective and safe treatment in RRMS, including aggressive forms of the disease. Some selected PMS patients could also benefit from this treatment.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2023.1060696","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,7]],"date-time":"2023-03-07T05:24:16Z","timestamp":1678166656000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Treatment of multiple sclerosis with rituximab: A Spanish multicenter 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