Serum sickness following treatment with rituximab

Serum sickness, an illness characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgias, can occur in patients who receive chimeric monoclonal antibody therapy. Rituximab, a B cell-depleting chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, has been used with increasing frequency in the treatment of rheumatologic illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Serum sickness has only rarely been reported following rituximab therapy. All prior reported cases have been in patients with autoimmune conditions. We describe a case of serum sickness in a patient treated with rituximab for mantle cell lymphoma. We also review the literature of rituximab-induced serum sickness.