Skip Navigation


Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on May 30, 2006
Rheumatology 2007 46(1):29-36; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kel148
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
46/1/29    most recent
kel148v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (8)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Leandro, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, J. C. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Leandro, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, J. C. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Bone marrow B-lineage cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis following rituximab therapy

M. J. Leandro1, N. Cooper2, G. Cambridge1, M. R. Ehrenstein1 and J. C. W. Edwards1

1Centre for Rheumatology and 2Department of Haematology, University College London, London, UK.

Correspondence to: Maria J. Leandro, University College London, Centre for Rheumatology, Windeyer Building, Room 317, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK. E-mail: maria.leandro{at}ucl.ac.uk


  Abstract

Objective. To assess the presence and phenotype of B-lineage cells in the bone marrow (BM) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients after rituximab therapy.

Methods. Six patients were studied. BM aspirates were collected 3 months after the treatment and analysed using the four-colour flow cytometry.

Results. CD19+ (B-lineage) cells in BM samples varied from 0.1 to 3.25% in the lymphoid gate. CD34+ cells varied from 1.23 to 4.86%. The proportion of CD34+ cells committed to the B-lineage varied between 0 and 42.19%. Pro-B-cells were undetectable in one case. The majority of B-cell precursors were pro-B-cells in Patients 5 and 6 (50 and 62% of CD19+ cells, respectively), pre-B-cells in Patients 3 and 4 (64 and 70%) and immature B-cells in Patient 1 (44%). Detectable CD20 expression on CD19+ cells was either low or absent. Plasma cells varied from 0.01 to 0.36% of the total nucleated cells. There was a trend towards longer duration of clinical response in patients with evidence of more complete depletion in BM.

Conclusion. In this small cohort of RA patients treated with rituximab, differences in proportion and phenotype of CD19+ BM cells were detected. These differences suggest variation in the degree of depletion achieved and correlate with time to relapse. Although pro-B-cells are not targeted directly by rituximab as they do not express CD20, the levels were unexpectedly low.

KEY WORDS: Rheumatoid arthritis, Rituximab, B-cell depletion, Bone marrow


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.