[Rituximab in systemic lupus erythematosus. Part II: review of clinical experience].

Rituximab is a chimeric human-mouse monoclonal antibody, which binds to the CD20 antigen on B lymphocytes and causes depletion of CD20+ cells. Rituximab is currently registered for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis. Rituximab also demonstrated efficacy in a number of other autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus. Data available from over published 200 cases may indicate that 50-75% of patients with lupus achieve at least partial remission after rituximab therapy. This effect was not confirmed in a randomized, double-blind phase II/III clinical trial. However methodological inaccuracies which might have led to incorrect conclusions in this trial were pointed out. Further studies are needed to evaluate efficacy of rituximab in different clinical and immunological subtypes of systemic lupus erythematosus.