Reconstitution of the adult B cell repertoire after treatment with rituximab
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* Corresponding author: Iñaki Sanz Ignacio_Sanz@urmc.rochester.edu
Division of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2005, 7:175-176 doi:10.1186/ar1799
Published: 22 July 2005Abstract
B cells play diverse and fundamental roles in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Consequently, therapeutic targeting of B cells is gaining prominence in our clinical armamentarium for an ever expanding array of autoimmune and neoplastic disorders. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand the mechanism of action of B cell depletion. Given that the ideal consequence of B cell depletion would be the subsequent re-establishment of immunologic tolerance, a detailed analysis of the properties of the emerging repertoire will be required. The results presented by Rouzière and coworkers in their study of rheumatoid arthritis patients shed some light on this question and are discussed in this commentary.