OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of belimumab (BEL) in improving anaemia, thrombocytopenia, lymphopenia and leucopenia in patients with SLE. METHODS: /L. Follow-up data up to month 48 were available for 33 patients with anaemia, 20 with thrombocytopenia, 44 with lymphopenia and 18 with leucopenia. RESULTS: /L at 48 months (p<0.001). Improvement in Hb (p=0.97), Plts (p=0.12), Lym (p=0.86) and Leuc (p=0.73) was similar regardless of the use of concomitant immunosuppressants. Glucocorticoid (GC) doses decreased significantly across all manifestations, except for leucopenia: anaemia (12.9±12.1 to 3.6±4.9 mg/day, p=0.003), thrombocytopenia (10.8±9.6 to 4.4±5.5 mg/day, p=0.004), lymphopenia (10.6±8.6 to 3.1±3.2 mg/day, p<0.001). Proportion of GC users declined over 48 months: anaemia 96.1-60.7%, thrombocytopenia 93.1-80%, lymphopenia 96.3-70.3% and leucopenia 95.3-80%. CONCLUSION: In this real-world cohort, BEL treatment was associated with improvement in anaemia, thrombocytopenia, lymphopenia and leucopenia with over half of patients achieving normalisation of blood counts. Haematological responses were similar regardless of concomitant immunosuppressive therapy, supporting the role of BEL as a therapeutic option for haematological abnormalities in SLE.
Hulej et al. (Thu,) studied this question.