Iatrogenic antibody deficiency from B-cell targeted therapies in autoimmune rheumatic diseases

B-cell-targeted therapy in rheumatic diseases

B cell targeted therapies

Although the precise pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains unclear, many cell populations, including monocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, fibroblasts and B cells, participate in the inflammatory process. Ongoing research continues to evaluate the critical roles played by B cells in sustaining the chronic inflammatory process of RA. These findings have contributed to the develo...

Cell based therapies in retinal diseases

Background Degenerative retinal diseases, including age related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and hereditary retinal dystrophies are major causes of blindness. The principal defect in these diseases is cell loss which is amenable to both cell based neuroprotective and neuroregenerative therapies. To briefly review the lines of research and potential candidates for cell based therapies among ...

Stem cell transplantation for rheumatic autoimmune diseases

Immunoablative therapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is an intensive treatment modality aimed at 'resetting' the dysregulated immune system of a patient with immunoablative therapy and allow outgrowth of a nonautogressive immune system from reinfused hematopoietic stem cells, either from the patient (autologous HSCT) or a healthy donor (allogeneic HSCT). HSCT has been shown...

Application of Monoclonal Antibody Therapies in Autoimmune Diseases

A better understanding of the pathogenesis of autoimmunity makes it possible to select more specific therapeutic targets and design biological agents that can replace or enhance the effect of immunosuppressive drugs; these include monoclonal antibodies, soluble receptors and molecular mimetics. This chapter aims to give a brief summary on different protein-based medications: first on the biolog...