Efficacy and Safety of Rituximab in Refractory CIDP With or Without IgG4 Autoantibodies (RECIPE): Protocol for a Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

Shinobu Shimizu   ^{1 *} , PhD ;   Masahiro Iijima   ^{1, 2 *} , MD, PhD ;   Yuki Fukami   ² , MD ;   Natsuko Tamura   ^{1, 3} , MSc ;   Masahiro Nakatochi   ^{1, 4} , PhD ;   Masahiko Ando   ¹ , MD, PhD ;   Ryoji Nishi   ² , MD ;   Haruki Koike   ² , MD, PhD ;   Kenichi Kaida   ⁵ , MD, PhD ;   Michiaki Koga   ⁶ , MD, PhD ;   Takashi Kanda   ⁶ , MD, PhD ;   Hidenori Ogata   ⁷ , MD, PhD ;   Jun-Ichi Kira   ⁷ , MD, PhD ;   Masahiro Mori   ⁸ , MD, PhD ;   Satoshi Kuwabara   ⁸ , MD, PhD ;   Masahisa Katsuno   ² , MD, PhD

¹ Department of Advanced Medicine, Nagoya University Hospital, Nagoya, Japan

² Department of Neurology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

³ Center for Integrated Medical Research, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan

⁴ Department of Nursing, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

⁵ Department of Neurology, Anti-aging and Vascular Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan

⁶ Department of Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Japan

⁷ Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

⁸ Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

*these authors contributed equally