Pyoderma gangrenosum treated successfully with visilizumab in patients with ulcerative colitis

Pyoderma gangrenosum is a misleading designation for an idiopathic ulcerating cutaneous disease. The activity of pyoderma gangrenosum may or may not follow the activity of the inflammatory bowel disease. Visilizumab (Nuvion, PDL Bio Pharma, USA), a humanized IgG2 monoclonal antibody that binds to the human CD3 epsilon chain expressed on human T cells, induces the rapid production of selective chemokines, and reduces the CXCR3-mediated chemotaxis of the resting peripheral blood lymphocytes. In activated, but not resting T cells, visilizumab leads to rapid apoptosis.