Castleman Disease Collaborative Network

pes of the disease:
-Unicentric Castleman’s Disease (UCD), involves one lymph node area and can typically be cured by removing the diseased node, but the disease can be very serious from direct damage to nearby organs or post-surgical damage.
-Multicentric Castleman’s Disease (MCD), involves multiple lymph nodes and causes individuals to become severely ill. There is no cure for MCD, but many patients have benefitted from antibody therapies which block IL6 signaling or chemotherapy. MCD involves the release of inflammatory chemicals called "cytokines" (particularly IL-6) that activate the immune system and can cause a range of symptoms from fatigue to multiple organ system dysfunction, such as liver, kidney, and bone marrow failure. The cause of the disease and pathophysiology are not well understood, and more research is urgently needed.