Ebata S, Yoshizaki A, Fukasawa T, et al. - In systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) patients treated with rituximab (RTX), a valuable surrogate marker of subsequent improvement of the disease could be afforded by the removal rate of B cells after 2 weeks of RTX therapy.

• A total of 10 SSc-ILD patients treated with RTX in an independent clinical trial were analyzed.

• Compared with baseline, % of residual peripheral blood B cells at 2 weeks post-RTX was identified to be negatively correlated with the %FVC (percent-predicted forced vital capacity) improvement at 24-week evaluation.

• Significant improvement in %FVC at the 24-week assessment, vs baseline, was evident in the subgroup with less than 5% B-cell persistence at week 2.

• No significant difference was observed in %FVC at 24 weeks vs baseline, in another subgroup with more than 5% residual B cells.