Improving Type 1 Diabetes After Treatment of Immune Thrombocytopenia With Rituximab: Killing Two Birds With One Stone

Rituximab, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific for human CD20 expressed on the surface of B-cells, has been used to treat patients with B-cell–mediated diseases such as B-cell lymphomas, immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), and other autoimmune diseases. It was recently also used to treat patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (1,2). Although type 1 diabetes is considered an autoimmune T-cell–mediated disease, B-cells do play a role in its development by both secreting autoantibodies specific for islet cell proteins (used as markers of the disease) and acting as antigen-presenting cell population for T-CD4+ cells (3). In fact, a recent clinical trial demonstrated the effectiveness of rituximab in the treatment …