Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Damato, Valentina
• Theorell, Jakob
• Al-Diwani, Adam
• Kienzler, Anne-Kathrin
• Makuch, Mateusz
• Sun, Bo
• Handel, Adam
• Akdeniz, Deniz
• Berretta, Antonio
• Ramanathan, Sudarshini
• Fower, Andrew
• Whittam, Daniel
• Gibbons, Emily
• McGlashan, Nicholas
• Green, Edward
• Huda, Saif
• Woodhall, Mark
• Palace, Jacqueline
• Sheerin, Fintan
• Waters, Patrick
• Leite, Maria I
• Jacob, Anu
• Irani, Sarosh R

Titel

Rituximab abrogates aquaporin-4-specific germinal center activity in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders

Ist Teil von

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, 2022-06, Vol.119 (24), p.e2121804119-e2121804119

Ort / Verlag

United States: National Academy of Sciences

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• SignificanceBy studying paired blood and deep cervical lymph node samples from patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders, our data provide evidence for a germinal center-based generation of aquaporin-4 antibodies. Frequent serum aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin Ms (IgMs) and shifts in IgG subclasses were observed alongside preferential synthesis of aquaporin-4 IgGs and aquaporin-4-reactive B cells within lymph nodes. Both intranodal synthesis of aquaporin-4 antibodies and intranodal aquaporin-4-reactive B cells were robustly eliminated with rituximab administration. This study systematically explores lymph nodes that drain the central nervous system (CNS) in patients with CNS autoimmunity and offers a potential explanation as to why rituximab is clinically highly efficacious in autoantibody-mediated diseases despite no accompanying reduction in serum autoantibody levels.