Frontiers in Pharmacology (Feb 2023)

The rapid inhibition of B-cell activation markers by belimumab was associated with disease control in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

  • Jing Wang,
  • Bomiao Ju,
  • Li Zhu,
  • Hanchao Li,
  • Jing Luo,
  • Jing Zhang,
  • Nan Hu,
  • Lingfei Mo,
  • Yanhua Wang,
  • Ying Pan,
  • Jing Huang,
  • Xiaohong Lv,
  • Dan Pu,
  • Zhiming Hao,
  • Lan He,
  • Yuanyuan Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2023.1080730
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

Read online

Objective: To examine the kinetics of B cell subsets and activation markers in the early stage of belimumab treatment and their correction with treatment response.Methods: We enrolled 27 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients receiving 6 months belimumab treatment. Flow cytometry was used to test their B cell subsets and activation markers (including CD40, CD80, CD95, CD21low, CD22, p-SYK and p-AKT).Results: During belimumab treatment, SLEDAI-2K declined, the proportions of CD19+ B cells and naïve B cells decreased, whereas the switched memory B cells and non-switched B cells increased. The larger variations of the B cell subsets and the activation markers were in the first 1 month than the other later time frames. The ratio of p-SYK/p-AKT on non-switched B cell at 1 month was associated with the SLEDAI-2K decline rate in the 6 months of belimumab treatment.Conclusion: B cell hyperactivity was rapidly inhibited in the early stage of belimumab treatment, and the ratio of p-SYK/p-AKT may predict SLEDAI-2K decline.Clinical Trial Registration:https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04893161?term=NCT04893161&draw=2&rank=1; identifier: NCT04893161.

Keywords