AB0026 B-Cell Profile in RA Patients Treated with Two Different Biological Therapeutic Targets: Anti-TNF and Anti-Il6r. A Cross-Sectional Study

Background B-cells play a cardinal role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as demonstrated by the effectiveness of B-cell depletion with rituximab (RTX). In the current cross-sectional study, we assessed the phenotypical changes of B-cell subsets in RA patients treated with different anti-cytokine therapeutic targets, anti-TNF: infliximab (IFX), adalimumab (ADA), etanercept (ETA) and the anti-IL6R: tocilizumab (TCZ) compared to healthy controls (HC). Objectives To evaluate the changes in the B-cell phenotype in RA patients treated with different biological therapeutic agents. Methods In this cross-sectional study we assessed B-cells expressing BBR (BAFF binding receptors): BAFF-R, TACI, BCMA and the activation marker CD86 in peripheral blood in a total of 108 patients with RA treated with IFX (n=37), ADA (n=28), ETA (n=28) and TCZ (n=14) as well as in HC (n=19). Clinical status of patients was determined using the 28 joints disease activity score (DAS28), defining non-remission as DAS28≥2.6 and remission as DAS28