Rituximab and Fibrillary Glomerulonephritis: Interest of B Cell Reconstitution Monitoring

• Main Authors: Claire Leibler, Anissa Moktefi, Marie Matignon, Céline Debiais-Delpech, Julie Oniszczuk, Dil Sahali, José L. Cohen, Philippe Grimbert, Vincent Audard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-11-01
• Series: Journal of Clinical Medicine
• Subjects: fibrillary glomerulonephritis; rituximab; B cell reconstitution
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/7/11/430

Fibrillary glomerulonephritis (FGN) is a rare glomerular disease characterized by glomerular deposition of randomly arranged non-amyloid fibrils. FGN has a poor renal prognosis and its optimal treatment is a medical challenge. Rituximab therapy has recently emerged as a promising approach even though its mechanism of action remains hypothetical. We describe the case of a 55-year-old woman with FGN successfully treated by rituximab. During the 36-month follow-up, she had three relapses of FGN, occurring each time in the context of B cell recovery. Investigation of the distribution of B cell subpopulations at the time of the third relapse showed, as previously described for some immunological diseases, an increase in the proportion of switched memory B cells relative to healthy subjects, whereas global memory B cell pool was not yet recovered. This case suggests that B cell reconstitution should be carefully monitored in the management of FGN treated with rituximab.