ASC-Directed Therapy Examined in Treatment of Refractory LN
In newly published research, investigators set out to characterize kidney and urine antibody-secreting cells (ASC) of patients with active lupus nephritis (LN) before and after induction therapy.
They performed anti-CD138 staining of kidney biopsy samples to reveal ASC in patients with biopsy-proven active LN. The staining process showed a correlation between the total number of kidney CD138+ ASC in 46 patients with untreated LN, with a low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and tubulointerstitial damage. The researchers used a gene set allowed them to study ASC maturation from plasmablast to long-lived plasma cells.
“We quantified urine ASC from untreated LN patients at diagnosis and after 6 months of prospective follow up during induction therapy,” the authors wrote. “Most kidney ASC from 3 untreated patients had a plasmablast molecular signature, contrasting with ASC from 4 patients refractory to immunosuppressant drugs that expressed long-lived plasma cells genes and clustered with long-lived bone marrow plasma cells from 2 healthy donors.”
The investigators detected some urine ASC with plasmablast signature among patients with untreated LN. “The presence of urine ASC at 6 months was associated with treatment failure.”
-Angelique Platas
Reference:
Crickx E, Tamirou F, Huscenot T. Evolution of kidney antibody secreting cells molecular signature in lupus patients with active nephritis upon immunosuppressive therapy. Arthritis Rheum. Published online March 1, 2021