The time course of changes in B lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus during therapy with biological agents

Objective: to study the baseline level and time course of changes in peripheral blood B cell subpopulations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) versus the clinical manifestations of the disease during therapy with ritux-imab (RTM) and belimumab (BLM). Subjects and methods. 49 patients with a documented diagnosis of SLE and high and moderate SLEDAI-2K values were divided into three groups: 1) 40 patients received RTM, 2) 5 patients took BLM; 3) 4 patients had combination therapy (dual anti-B-cell therapy) with RTM + BLM. Peripheral blood B lymphocyte subpopulations were measured by multicolor flow cytometry using a panel of monoclonal antibodies against surface membrane markers of B lymphocytes; the patients underwent clinical immunological examination before therapy with biological agents and every 3 months during a year. Results and discussion. Patients with high SLE activity (SLEDAI-2K 18+5) and involvement of vital organs had generally higher levels of double negative memory cells (r = 0.52; p