Rituximab in the treatment of primary glomerulopathies - our experience

INTRODUCTION

Since 2012, when The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) initiative published the first recommendations for the management and treatment of glomerular diseases, there has been enormous progress in understanding pathogenesis, identifying new diagnostic biomarkers and treating these diseases. Rituximab had become a promisisng treatment option in patients with primary glomerular disease, as confirmed by several clinical studies, where it has led to a significant reduction in proteinuria and a reduction in the incidence of relapses of the underlying disease. In this work we present our experiences with rituximab treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed 9 patients with primary glomerulopathy resistant to srandard immunosuppressive therapy who received rituximab as rescue treatment. We evaluated the effect of rituximab induction treatment on the development of quantitative proteinuria.

RESULTS

By evaluating the 24-hour proteinuria before and after treatment, we demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in proteinuria in our group of patients immediately after the las dose of rituximab. We did not notice a significant change in renal function.

CONCLUSION

Rituximab represents an effective alternative in the treatment of primary glomerulopathies, especially in cases of resistance to standard immunosuppressive therapy, which is shared by the clinical experience presented by us.

Rituximab use in adult primary glomerulopathy: where is the evidence?

Rituximab is a chimeric anti-CD20 antibody that results in depletion of B-cell lymphocytes. It is currently used in the treatment of a variety of autoimmune diseases, in addition to CD20-positive lymphomas. The use of rituximab in the treatment of the adult primary glomerular diseases has emerged recently, although not yet established as first-line therapy in international guidelines. In patients with steroid-dependent minimal change disease or frequently relapsing disease, and in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN), several retrospective and prospective studies support the use of rituximab to induce remission, whereas in idiopathic focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), the use of rituximab has resulted in variable results. Evidence is still lacking for the use of rituximab in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) and idiopathic membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), as only few reports used rituximab in these two entities. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are warranted and clearly needed to establish the definitive role of rituximab in the management of steroid-dependent and frequently relapsing minimal change disease, IMN, both as first-line and second-line treatment, and in MPGN. We await the results of an ongoing RCT of rituximab use in IgAN. Although current evidence for the use of rituximab in patients with idiopathic FSGS is poor, more RCTs are needed to clarify its role, if any, in the management of steroid-resistant or steroid-dependent FSGS.