Lupus & antiphospholipid syndrome
Rituximab as maintenance therapy following remission induction in relapsing or refractory systemic lupus erythematosus
Authors' conclusion
This multicentre prospective cohort study demonstrated that long-term RTX maintenance therapy has high efficacy and acceptable safety in relapsing or refractory SLE patients who had a clinical response to RTX induction therapy.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with relapsing or refractory SLE in four centres who had received at least one course of rituximab (RTX) induction treatment and had a clinical response67 responders at 6 months
- Participants
- 82 patients
- Exposure
- RTX maintenance therapy vs traditional immunosuppressive agent (ISA) maintenance therapy
- RTXn = 34
- ISAn = 33reference
- Outcome
- Relapse-free survival
Methodological detailsobservational, non-randomized, multicentre
- Observational
- Non-randomized
- Multicentre
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Disease relapse · median follow-up 24 months
RTX
3
events
ISA
10
events
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Clinical response to RTX induction · 6 months
- Patients with clinical response
- 67 (81.7%)
Independent predictors of sustained remission (multivariate analysis)
- Hydroxychloroquine use, RTX maintenance therapy and haematological system involvement
Original publication
Rituximab as maintenance therapy following remission induction in relapsing or refractory systemic lupus erythematosus. Rheumatology (Oxford). Published 17 August 2022. doi:10.
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