Eculizumab and drug-induced haemolytic-uraemic syndrome

Stanislas Faguer1, Antoine Huart1, Véronique Frémeaux-Bacchi2

  • 1Nephrology and Transplantation Department , University Hospital Rangueil and University Toulouse-3 , Toulouse , France ; Reference Center for Rare Renal Diseases , University Hospital Rangueil , Toulouse , France.

The monoclonal anti-C5 antibody eculizumab has been successfully tested in atypical haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (aHUS), with or without mutations in the regulatory proteins of the alternative pathway of the complement, and less convincingly in enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli-associated HUS. Here, we report a patient with mitomycin-C-induced HUS unresponsive to plasma exchanges. Eculizumab infusion was followed by a dramatic improvement of haematological parameters and renal function, suggesting a role of complement blockade in the management of refractory, drug-related HUS.

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