Abstract
Membranous nephropathy (MN) is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome in adults. Rituximab, a type I anti-CD20 antibody, has been shown to be an effective therapy in treatment of patients with MN associated with M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) antibodies. Despite its effectiveness, up to 40% of patients may fail to respond to rituximab, which may be related to higher PLA2R antibody titers. Obinutuzumab, a type II anti-CD20 depleter, has been shown to produce a more profound CD20 depletion and be more efficacious in treating certain hematologic malignancies compared with rituximab. We report 3 patients with PLA2R-associated MN for whom rituximab failed to induce immunologic or clinical remisison, but who were successfully treated with obinutuzumab. Obinutuzumab resulted in complete immunologic remission in all 3 cases and was followed by partial remission in 2 of the cases. Obinutuzumab appears to be a promising treatment strategy for PLA2R-associated MN that fails to respond to rituximab.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 883-888 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | American Journal of Kidney Diseases |
Volume | 76 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Dr Fervenza has received unrestricted research grants from Genentech Inc, the maker of obinutuzumab. The other authors declare that they have no relevant financial interests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 National Kidney Foundation, Inc.
Keywords
- B cell depletion
- Membranous nephropathy (MN)
- PLAR
- case report
- nephrotic syndrome
- obinutuzumab
- rituximab
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Case Reports