Efficacy and Safety of Obinutuzumab Versus Rituximab in Childhood Steroid Dependant and Frequent Relapsing Nephrotic Syndrome

Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) is the most frequent acquired glomerulopathy in children. The initial treatment relies on steroids, which enables remission of proteinuria in 90% of children. However, 80 % of steroid-sensitive patients will relapse, and 2/3 will become steroid-dependant with a long lasting disease over years. In this situation, immunosuppressive drugs are added as steroid-sparing agents. There is no international consensus on the second line treatment strategy after initial steroid therapy. RCT have demonstrated the efficacy of rituximab (RTX) to maintain remission in FR/SDNS after oral treatments withdrawal, however most patients relapse within 2 years, and some patients are resistant or allergic to Rituximab. Obinutuzumab (OBI) is a second generation antiCD20 mAb, that has been designed to overcome rituximab resistance in B-cell malignancies. Additional mechanisms of rituximab failure support the hypothesis that B-cell depletion could be optimized with OBI in autoimmune diseases. OBI has met its primary endpoint in lupus nephritis and a few randomized controlled trials are currently ongoing in nephrology for lupus nephritis and membranous nephropathy. We believe that a single infusion of OBI could reduce the risk of subsequent relapse in FR/SDNS and the cumulative exposure to immunosuppressive drugs.