• Online Features  This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (24)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Neurology  • Multiple Sclerosis/ Demyelinating Disease  • Pediatric Neurology  • Pediatrics  • Pediatrics, Other  • Drug Therapy  • Drug Therapy, Other  • Immunologic Disorders  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Peter Huppke, MD; Wiebke Stark, MD; Claudia Zürcher, MD; Brenda Huppke, MD; Wolfgang Brück, MD; Jutta Gärtner, MD

Arch Neurol. 2008;65(12):1655-1658.

Background  Natalizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody raised against ₄ integrins, is approved for treatment of active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) in adult patients.

Objective  To determine the safety, effectiveness, and tolerability of natalizumab use in pediatric patients with MS.

Design  Case report.

Setting  Center for MS in childhood and adolescents, Göttingen, Germany.

Patients  Three pediatric patients with RRMS having a poor response to other immunomodulatory therapies or having intolerable adverse effects.

Interventions  Natalizumab given every 4 weeks at a dosage of 3 to 5 mg/kg of body weight.

Main Outcome Measures  Cranial magnetic resonance (MR) imaging before treatment and every 6 months thereafter.

Results  During 24, 16, and 15 months of treatment, no further relapses occurred in the 3 pediatric patients; all reported significant improvement in their quality of life. Follow-up MR imaging showed no new T2-weighted lesions or gadolinium-enhancing lesions. No adverse events were seen when dosage was adjusted to body weight.

Conclusions  Natalizumab treatment was effective and well tolerated in our pediatric patients with RRMS who did not respond to initial immunomodulatory treatments. Therefore, it is a promising second-line therapy for pediatric patients with RRMS.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology (Drs P. Huppke, Stark, Zürcher, B. Huppke, and Gärtner) and Neuropathology (Dr Brück), Faculty of Medicine, Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany.

CiteULike    Connotea    Delicious    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Daclizumab Use in Patients With Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis
Gorman et al.
Arch Neurol 2012;69:78-81.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Consensus statement: evaluation of new and existing therapeutics for pediatric multiple sclerosis
Chitnis et al.
Mult Scler 2012;18:116-127.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Multiple Sclerosis Therapies in Pediatric Patients With Refractory Multiple Sclerosis
Yeh et al.
Arch Neurol 2011;68:437-444.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Meeting Review: The management of multiple sclerosis in children: a European view
Ghezzi et al.
Mult Scler 2010;16:1258-1267.
ABSTRACT  

Safety and efficacy of natalizumab in children with multiple sclerosis
Ghezzi et al.
Neurology 2010;75:912-917.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Natalizumab in pediatric multiple sclerosis patients
Yeh and Weinstock-Guttman
Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders 2010;3:293-299.
ABSTRACT  

Therapeutic strategies in childhood multiple sclerosis
Ghezzi
Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders 2010;3:217-228.
ABSTRACT