Belimumab therapy for refractory immune thrombocytopenia in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with anti-phospholipid antibodies

Abstract

Objective

To observe the effect of belimumab treatment in refractory anti-phospholipid antibody-associated immune thrombocytopenia with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Method

Four SLE patients with refractory anti-phospholipid antibody-associated immune thrombocytopenia were included in this one-arm observational study. Inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of SLE according to 1997 American College of Rheumatology criteria, severe immune thrombocytopenia (platelets <30 × 10⁹/L), no bleeding symptoms, lack of satisfactory response to traditional treatment, and high-titre anti-phospholipid antibodies. All patients received belimumab (Benlysta®) for 6 months.

Results

The mean platelet count was 21.8 × 10⁹ cells/L, ranging between 16 and 29 × 10⁹/L at baseline, 123.3 × 10⁹/L at 1 month, and 172.5 × 10⁹/L at the end of 6 months after belimumab treatment. No bleeding complications occurred during the entire follow-up period.

Conclusion

In this study, belimumab reduced the anti-phospholipid antibodies while increasing the platelet count in SLE patients with anti-phospholipid antibody-associated immune thrombocytopenia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

Study design, supervision, and composition writing by Jing Dong; data collection by Lei Zhao and Liqin Wang; statistical analysis by Lin Pan and Hongyue Wang; and writing check by Lei Zhao.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the 2021 Clinical+X Research Fund of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University to Jing Dong [grant number QDFY+X2021041] and by the 2021 Qingdao Medical and Health Research Program to Jing Dong [grant number 2021-WJZD200].