Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia after rituximab therapy for antibody-mediated rejection in a renal transplant recipient

D. Kumar, S. Gourishankar, T. Mueller, S. Cockfield, J. Weinkauf, D. Vethanayagam, A. Humar. Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia after rituximab therapy for antibody-mediated rejection in a renal transplant recipient.Transpl Infect Dis 2009: 11: 167-170. All rights reserved We report the case of a 54-year-old woman who underwent living-related renal transplantation for end-stage renal disease from IgA nephropathy. She was subsequently diagnosed with antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) and received rituximab, a potent B-cell suppressive agent. After therapy with rituximab, she developed Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) requiring hospitalization. We discuss the increasing literature for the use of rituximab for AMR and the need for PJP prophylaxis in this setting.