ArticleArthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.)2022
B Cell Numbers Predict Humoral and Cellular Response Upon SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Among Patients Treated With Rituximab.
Article in Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Growing attention of immunogenicity among patients with autoimmune diseases post-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: meta-analysis and systematic reviews of the current studies.Annals of medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in children and adult patients with rheumatic diseases: a comprehensive literature review.Rheumatology international · 2024Pooled it
- COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in Patients With Lymphoid Malignancy or Anti-CD20 Antibody Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Clinical lymphoma, myeloma & leukemia · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Risk factors of severe COVID-19 in people with multiple sclerosis : A systematic review and meta-analysis.Revue neurologiquePooled it
- Infection prophylaxis following anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies in childhood kidney diseases.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Review
- Impaired booster-induced SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses in rituximab-treated B-cell lymphoma patients despite peripheral B-Cell Recovery.Radiology and oncology · 2026Observational
- Combination of B-cell-guided rituximab and low-dose tacrolimus for primary membranous nephropathy: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- CD56Clinical & translational immunology · 2026Article
- The T-cell response to SARS-CoV- 2 vaccination persists beyond six months in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with rituximab.Arthritis research & therapy · 2025Observational
- Rheumatoid arthritis unmasked: the power of B cell depletion therapy.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- Phosphatidylcholine-specific B cells are enriched among atypical CD11cFrontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- [Corona vaccination under immunosuppression].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine-Elicited Immunity after B Cell Depletion in Multiple Sclerosis.ImmunoHorizons · 2024Article
- [Influence of underlying disease and immunosuppression on the immunocompetence in inflammatory rheumatic diseases].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2024Review
- Immunosuppressants in dermatology on vaccine immunogenicity: a prospective cohort study of pemphigus patients in the pandemic.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Live attenuated vaccines in patients receiving immunosuppressive agents.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Review
- Efficacy, Immunogenicity, and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines in Patients with Autoimmune Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Vaccines · 2023Review
- Observational
- Managing Immunosuppression in Vasculitis Patients in Times of Coronavirus Disease 2019.Rheumatic diseases clinics of North America · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
24 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePatients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases receiving rituximab (RTX) therapy are at higher risk of poor COVID-19 outcomes and show substantially impaired humoral immune response to anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. However, the complex relationship between antigen-specific B cells and T cells and the level of B cell repopulation necessary to achieve anti-vaccine responses remain largely unknown.
methodsAntibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and induction of antigen-specific B and CD4/CD8 T cell subsets were studied in 19 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis receiving RTX, 12 patients with RA receiving other therapies, and 30 healthy controls after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with either messenger RNA or vector-based vaccines.
resultsA minimum of 10 B cells per microliter (0.4% of lymphocytes) in the peripheral circulation appeared to be required for RTX-treated patients to mount seroconversion to anti-S1 IgG upon SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. RTX-treated patients who lacked IgG seroconversion showed reduced receptor-binding domain-positive B cells (P = 0.0005), a lower frequency of Tfh-like cells (P = 0.0481), as well as fewer activated CD4 (P = 0.0036) and CD8 T cells (P = 0.0308) compared to RTX-treated patients who achieved IgG seroconversion. Functionally relevant B cell depletion resulted in impaired interferon-γ secretion by spike-specific CD4 T cells (P = 0.0112, r = 0.5342). In contrast, antigen-specific CD8 T cells were reduced in both RA patients and RTX-treated patients, independently of IgG formation.
conclusionIn RTX-treated patients, a minimum of 10 B cells per microliter in the peripheral circulation is a candidate biomarker for a high likelihood of an appropriate cellular and humoral response after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Mechanistically, the data emphasize the crucial role of costimulatory B cell functions for the proper induction of CD4 responses propagating vaccine-specific B cell and plasma cell differentiation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.