Rituximab in primary podocytopathies: efficacy and safety in a retrospective cohort

Podocytopathies are an important cause of nephrotic syndrome, and immunosuppression plays a pivotal role in disease management. The efficacy of biological agents such as rituximab (RTX), however, remains unclear, especially in adults. This study hypothesized that RTX is efficient and safe in the treatment of steroid-sensitive and steroid-resistant primary podocytopathies.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted based on medical records before the first infusion of RTX (T0) and 1 to 3 months (T1) and 3 to 6 months after infusion (T2). Patients had biopsy-proven podocytopathies and received at least 500 mg of RTX. Individuals with secondary glomerular diseases were excluded.

A total of 31 patients with a mean age at infusion of 32.9 years (SD 11.0) were included. At T2, remission was reached in 45.2%, with complete remission in 19.4%. Prior response to steroids was related to a better prognosis, with remission in up to 68.5% of these patients. Moreover, 20.0% of steroid-resistant patients reached adapted remission (≥ 35% proteinuria decrease + ≥ 20% serum albumin increase). Hypertension and previous use of calcineurin inhibitors were not predictors of clinical response. The most frequent adverse events were infection (12.9%) and rash (9.7%).

In conclusion, our results suggest that RTX is a useful therapeutic option not only for steroid-sensitive podocytopathies, but also in selected steroid-resistant cases, determining a proteinuria decrease that can contribute positively to the clinical management of such glomerular diseases. RTX was generally efficient and well tolerated in this adult cohort.