ReviewNature reviews. Rheumatology2025
Opportunities and limitations of B cell depletion approaches in SLE.
Review in Nature reviews. Rheumatology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The 2026 British Society for Rheumatology guideline for the management of children, young people and adults with systemic lupus erythematosus.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- CAR T cell therapy efficacy and safety in SLE: a systematic review and pooled analysis of 47 patients across 10 studies.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Low-dose oral nicotinamide mononucleotide for immune thrombocytopenia: a phase 1/2 trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- Regulatory B cell expansion and type 1 innate lymphoid cell suppression characterise immune modulation in paediatric lupus nephritis.RMD open · 2026Trial
- Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus: From B cell depletion to immune reprogramming.Journal of translational autoimmunity · 2026Review
- Disease modification in lupus nephritis: towards a pathophysiology-based treatment paradigm.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2026Review
- The SLC15A4-TASL complex is essential for lupus development in mice.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- A bispecific CD3×CD19 antibody for systemic lupus erythematosus: a phase 1 trial.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Cellular therapies in systemic lupus erythematosus: recent progress and future directions.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Review
- Effectiveness and Safety of Inebilizumab for IgG4-Related Disease in a Real-World Clinical Setting in Japan: Protocol for a Long-Term Prospective Observational Study (4SigHT Study).Rheumatology and therapy · 2026Article
- Distinct peripheral B-cell immunophenotypes define clinical heterogeneity in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2026Article
- Autoreactive B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus: insights from integrative multi-omics analyses.Inflammation and regeneration · 2026Review
- Long-term clinical outcomes and safety of rituximab in refractory neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus: a real-world single-center study.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Reproducible Molecular Subtypes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Are Associated With Disease Activity, Serology, and Distinct Trajectories Over Time.ACR open rheumatology · 2026Article
- CD22 as a Target for Hematological Malignancies and Autoimmune Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Synergistic Interaction Between MALAT1/miR-30b-5p/BAFF Axis and Inflammatory Cytokines Underlies Rituximab-Refractory NMOSD.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Erythrocyte patch for enhanced B cell depletion therapy.Science advances · 2026Article
- Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor therapy mitigates hypertension in lupus mice.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2026Article
- Advancing Care in Lupus Nephritis: Expert Perspectives on Current Practices and Future Directions in Italy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Positive results for obinutuzumab in SLE phase III trial.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
B cell depletion with rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody that selectively targets B cells by binding CD20, has been used off label in severe and resistant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) for over two decades. Several biological mechanisms limit the efficacy of rituximab, including immunological reactions towards the chimeric molecule, increased numbers of residual B cells, including plasmablasts and plasma cells, and a post-treatment surge in B cell-activating factor (BAFF) levels. Consequently, rituximab induces remission in only a proportion of patients, and safety issues limit its use. However, the use of rituximab has established the value of B cell depletion strategies in SLE and has guided the development of several improved B cell depletion therapies for SLE. These include enhanced monoclonal antibodies, modalities that redirect the specificity of patient T cells using chimeric antigen receptor T cells or bispecific T cell engagers, and combination treatment that simultaneously inhibits the BAFF pathway. In this Review, we consider evidence gathered from over two decades of using rituximab in SLE and examine how B cell depletion therapies could be further optimized to achieve immunological and clinical efficacy. In addition, we discuss the prospects of B cell depletion strategies for personalized treatment in SLE based on genetic research and studies in pre-symptomatic individuals.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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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.