S6D:4 Antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein in patients with sle are associated with central nervous system involvement: an unbiased pilot study of the swiss sle cohort study (sscs)

Abstract

placebo in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, few studies renewed interest for this molecule.We hypothesised that applying new SLE response criteria in EXPLORER study, we could show rituximab efficacy. Our objective was to reanalyze EXPLORER trial's data using four newly described SLE response criteria. Methods In our reanalysis, rituximab efficacy was assessed at week 52 using 4 criteria: SRI-4 (Systemic lupus erythematosus Responder Index) with and without a concomitant oral corticosteroid tapering objective of <10 mg at months 6 (SRI-4 with or without OCS tapering), Lupus Low Disease Activity Score (LLDAS) and BILAG-based Combined Lupus Assessment (BICLA). Results Data from all 257 patients were available. There was 234 women (91%) with a mean age of 40, 3 years among which 177 (69%) received hydroxychloroquine.At week 52, SRI-4 response rate was 27,2% in the rituximab group vs 22,7% in the placebo group (p=0.43); SRI-4 with OCS tapering was 16% in the rituximab group vs 13.6% in the placebo group (p=0.62); LLDAS was 16% in the rituximab group vs 12.5% in the placebo group (p=0.46) and BICLA was 15.4% in the rituximab group vs 15.9% in the placebo group (p=0.91).Subgroup analyses demonstrated a trend for better efficacy of rituximab compared to placebo in the subgroup of patients co-treated with methotrexate: SRI-4 of 30.6% in the rituximab group vs 12% in the placebo group (n=74, p=0.08). This trend was not found in the subgroup of patients cotreated with azathioprine or mycophenolate. In the subgroup of patients with an BILAG A/B in haematological system or vasculitis at baseline, there was a significantly higher SRI-4 response rate with rituximab: 28,6% vs 5,3% in the haematological group (p=0.047) and 39,3% vs 0% in the vasculitis group (p=0.037). Conclusions Our study confirms the results from the original EXPLORER Study. However, subgroup analysis suggests that patients with haematological or vasculitis involvement might benefit from rituximab. Efficacy in the subgroup treated with methotrexate is likely to be due to a lesser bias of concomitant immunosuppressive medication compared to azathioprine and mycophenolate.