B Cell Targeted Therapy in Rheumatic Disease

B cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. B cells not only produce pathogenic autoantibodies, but also present self-antigens to T cells and provide costimulatory signals for self-reactiveT cells. Recently, biologics have been tried in several autoimmune diseases as immune modulators with some promising results. Among them, several biologic agents that target B cells have led to improved patients’ outcomes and quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. These agents either deplete B cells