01 Apr 2025

Berlin, Germany

The publication by University of Wales addresses an important topic in the management of patients under anti-CD20 (B-cell depleting) therapies.

Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies are widely used to manage neuroinflammatory diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO).

Treatment of patients with anti-CD20 antibodies usually follows a fixed 6-month dosing cycle. However, the rate of B-cell re-emergence after 6-monthly dosing varies considerably between individuals and appears to be relevant to efficacy outcomes.

Tailoring (usually extending) the dosing interval by monitoring for B-cell re-emergence in the peripheral blood is gaining traction in order to mitigate the risk of hypogammaglobulinaemia and/or infection in those patients on long-term therapy. However, this poses logistical challenges such as the need for in-person attendances for whole-blood sampling or time-sensitive transport of liquid blood samples to a centre offering fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS).

The authors show that dried blood spot (DBS) based home sampling in combination with Epimune's proprietary immune cell quantification technology produces equivalent B-cell quantification results when compared to conventional whole blood samples analyzed by FACS. 

Importantly, this also holds true for patients with very low levels of B-cells, which would be the main target group for treatment cycle prolongation - effectively reducing treatment burden and cost for these patients.

Epimune offers DBS-based quantification of B-cells as part of its CE-IVD marked i.Mune TBNK test.

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