Association Between Changes in BLyS Levels and the Composition of B and T Cell Compartments in Patients With Refractory Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Treated With Belimumab

In conclusion, our results confirm the effects of belimumab on B cell subpopulations. These can be directly explained by the blockage of soluble BLyS interaction with BLyS-R. On the other hand, the effects on the composition of the T cell compartment are mild, which is not totally unexpected, since the intensity of BLyS-R expression by peripheral T cells is low (Ng et al., 2004). The principal limits of this study include the small sample size, presence of concomitant immunosuppressive therapies and low absolute cell number at baseline. Nevertheless, future studies on larger numbers of patients are needed to evaluate whether changes in B cell subsets after therapy initiation could be considered as marker of response to treatment with belimumab in SLE patients. Ethics Statement The study was approved by the institutional ethical committee of Brescia (approval number 2793) and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Author Contributions FR, SA, SP, and TL designed, set up, and carried out the experiments. GP, FR, RK, and SP analyzed the data. LA, RR, FF, PA, and AT performed the clinical evaluation of the patients and the collection of the samples. LA, SP, AT, GP, FF, and PA designed and supported the study. All authors checked the final version of the manuscript. Conflict of Interest Statement LA, FF, and AT received speaking fees from Glaxo Smith Kline. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or f...
Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research