Rheumatology Medical News about Rituximab therapy;B cells;rheumatoid arthritis

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Rituximab therapy reduces activated B cells both in the peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with rheumatoid arthritis: depletion of memory B cells correlates with clinical response
Arthritis Research & Therapy, 08/31/09

Nakou M et al. – Rituximab therapy preferentially depletes activated CD19+ HLA-DR+ B cells in the PB and BM of active RA patients. Clinical response to rituximab is associated with depletion of CD19+ CD27+ memory B cells in PB and BM of RA patients.

Methods

Active RA patients received rituximab (1000 mg)on d 1 & 15.
PB and BM aspirates were collected at baseline and a 3 mos
B- and T-cell populations were assessed using triple-color flow cytometry

Results

Rituximab therapy decreased PB (2% to 0.9%), but not BM (4.6% to 3.8%)CD19+ B cells, associated with a significant reduction in the activated CD19+ HLA-DR+ subset both in PB (55% to 19%) and BM (68% to 19%)
Response to rituximab since anti-TNF therapy did not reduce total or activated B cells
Rituximab therapy did not alter the number of activated CD4+ HLA-DR+, and CD4+ CD25+ T cells

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