Targeting B cell dysregulation with emerging therapies in autoimmune demyelinating disorders.

The depletion of B cells has proven to be beneficial in the treatment of autoimmune demyelinating disorders. The high efficacy of these therapies has highlighted the importance of B cells in autoimmunity and prompted investigations into specific B cell subsets that may be aberrant. Recently, a rise in the trialling of alternative B cell-targeting therapies that inhibit targets such as Bruton's tyrosine kinase, interleukin-6 receptor and fragment crystallisable neonatal receptor has also been observed. These agents interfere with specific dysregulated functions of B cells in contrast to the broad removal of many B cell subsets with depletion agents. The therapeutic benefit of these emerging agents will help delineate the contributions of B cells in demyelinating disorders and holds great potential for future treatment.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest GL reports funding from the Research Training Program Scholarship (Australia). FB has received research funding from NSW Health, Multiple Sclerosis Australia, Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF, Australia), the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), and Novartis. FB has also received honoraria from Biogen Idec, Novartis, and Merck as invited speaker.