Levine L, Son J, Yu A, Wesley S, De Jager PL, Moynihan E, Farber RS, Rosser M, Haque H, Riley CS. Inflammatory vaginitis in four B-cell suppressed women with Multiple Sclerosis.
Mult Scler Relat Disord 2024;
82:105387. [PMID:
38134606 DOI:
10.1016/j.msard.2023.105387]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
B-cell depleting therapies are effective in multiple sclerosis (MS) and are widely used (Hauser et al., 2017). Inflammatory vaginitis (IV), characterized by unexplained vaginal symptoms including mucopurulent discharge, pain, irritation, and dyspareunia, has been reported in one MS patient on ocrelizumab (Filikci and Jensen, 2022), and to be present in 3.5 % of women on rituximab for autoimmune diseases (Yockey et al., 2021). We report here four cases of IV in B cell depleted women with MS. B-cell reconstitution was temporally associated with improvement of IV symptoms. Further investigation and vigilance for this potential treatment emergent adverse event affecting sexual and reproductive health of women with MS is needed.
Collapse