Friday, January 29, 2010

Rituximab in Refractory Lupus Nephritis

Linking up nicely with Nate’s rituximab post from this Tuesday, I wanted to mention a patient with lupus nephritis whom I saw in clinic this week. She had had horrendous renal disease, as seen on the three kidney biopsies she needed over the course of her illness. She failed to achieve remission despite multiple courses of steroids, cytoxan etc, but had the most remarkable response rituximab: complete remission after 2 doses, with a completely bland urinary sediment and a serum creatinine of 0.6 mg/dL one year out. I should also mention that she is now on maintenance MMF. Her case raises a few important questions; I used this review to try and answer some of them.


What’s the evidence for using Rituximab in refractory Lupus Nephritis?

To date, there is published data from over 20 studies, comprising 300 patients, of cases of refractory lupus or lupus nephritis treated with rituximab, with reported response rates of around 75%. However, positive reporting bias is a real concern, and no randomized trials in renal disease exist.

She continues to have very active serology; what does this mean?
Autoantibody levels in lupus and vasculitis do not predict relapse very well in general. The published studies report that responders will typically demonstrate a fall in anti–double-stranded DNA antibodies, and a correction of complement depletion. So, they appear to have more of a role in predicting response to treatment

She has had 2 doses of rituximab so far, without complication. Should she receive a third?
This patient has now been in remission for over 1 year. However, I’m concerned about the possibility of an impending relapse. Relapses are reported as occurring after an average of 10 to 13 months, although some patients maintain remission for several years. Also, her peripheral B cells (CD19+ or CD20+ lymphocytes) have recently recovered. Patients who fail to achieve depletion tend to have poor or no clinical response, whereas prolonged B cell depletion is associated with a prolonged clinical response. Protocol re-treatment at 4- or 6-mo intervals is under evaluation, so for now there is no good answer to this question.

7 comments:

lasnab said...

I had the same dilemma after a patient achieved a complete response after rituxan...have you put any patients on standard maintenance therapy e.g with cellcept, after completion of rituxan tx

Conall O' Seaghdha said...

Yes, I forgot to mention the fact that this patient was on maintenance MMF too. I'll update the post.
Many thanks,
Conall

Francesco Iannuzzella said...

"However, positive reporting bias is a real concern, and no randomized trials in renal disease exist"
A positive reporting bias...
The LUNAR trial tested RTX vs. placebo in 144 pts with class III/IV LN. RTX treatment failed to meet its efficacy end-point. Notably, pts recieved 2 RTX infusions every 6 month in addition to CS and MMF. (http://www.gene.com/gene/news/press-releases/display.do?method=detail&id=11947)

Currently, the BELONG trial is in a recruitment phase. It will evaluate ocrelizumab in combination with CS, CYC and MMF.

Protocol RTX administration: Should we consider safe to maintain pts at 0% or near 0% CD20 positive B cells for a long-term period?
Moreover, RTX may have an effect beyond B cells. What about T reg and CD20+ T (T: not a mistake) cells?

Conall O' Seaghdha said...

Great comments Francesco, thanks for the post

thyroid t4 hormone said...

This drug appears to have had very good results for patients .. Could you please tell me where I can see the analysis of the results of the studies mentioned ?.. I am very interested in this information

thyroid t4 hormone said...

This drug appears to have had very good results for patients .. Could you please tell me where I can see the analysis of the results of the studies mentioned .. I am very interested in this information

summerdawn said...

I am Female 37 years and had two rounds of rituximab treatments. I am now in my 5th year of remission, medication free. At my worst I have had acute renal failure and CNS involvement.