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Review
. 2023 Feb 10:14:1126421.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1126421. eCollection 2023.

B cell depletion therapies in autoimmune diseases: Monoclonal antibodies or chimeric antigen receptor-based therapy?

Zheng Zhang  1 , Qian Xu  2 , Liang Huang  2
Affiliations
Review

B cell depletion therapies in autoimmune diseases: Monoclonal antibodies or chimeric antigen receptor-based therapy?

Zheng Zhang et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Immune system detects foreign pathogens, distinguishes them from self-antigens and responds to defend human body. When this self-tolerance is disrupted, the overactive immune system attacks healthy tissues or organs and the autoimmune diseases develop. B cells and plasma cells contribute a lot to pathogenesis and persistence of autoimmune diseases in both autoantibody-dependent and autoantibody-independent ways. Accumulating data indicates that treatments aiming to eliminate antibody-secreting cells (B cells or plasma cells) are effective in a wide spectrum of autoimmune diseases. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) deplete B cell lineage or plasma cells by signaling disruption, complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Engineered-T cells armed with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have been adopted from field of hematological malignancies as a method to eliminate B cells or plasma cells. In this review, we update our understanding of B cell depletion therapies in autoimmune diseases, review the mechanism, efficacy, safety and application of monoclonal antibodies and CAR-based immunotherapies, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these treatment options for patients.

Keywords: B cell depletion; autoimmune disease; chimeric antigen receptor; immunotherapy; monoclonal antibody.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of CD19, CD20, CD38, CD22, BAFF-R, BCMA and TACI expression according to B cell maturation steps.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Advantages and disadvantages of mAbs and CAR-based therapies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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