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Correspondence on “SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in rituximab-treated patients: evidence for impaired humoral but inducible cellular immune response”by Bonelli et al
  1. Maurizio Benucci1,
  2. Arianna Damiani2,
  3. Maria Infantino3,
  4. Mariangela Manfredi3,
  5. Valentina Grossi3,
  6. Barbara Lari3,
  7. Francesca Li Gobbi4,
  8. Piercarlo Sarzi Puttini5
  1. 1 Rheumatology Unit, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, Azienda USL Toscana Centro, Firenze, Italy
  2. 2 Rheumatology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
  3. 3 Immunology and Allergology Laboratory, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, Florence, Italy
  4. 4 Rheumatology Unit, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, Firenze, Italy
  5. 5 Rheumatology Unit, ASST-Fatebenefratelli L. Sacco University Hospital, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Dr Maurizio Benucci, Rheumatology Unit S.Giovanni di Dio Hospital, Azienda USL Toscana centro, Firenze, Toscana, Italy; maubenucci@tiscali.it

We have read the interesting research by Bonelli et al on the role of rituximab in vaccination for SARS-CoV-2. In the data on five patients, two had repopulated B cells and had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 RBD after vaccination.1 In our experience, we evaluated a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had received the last infusion of rituximab 6 months earlier (group A, four patients), a group of patients who had received the last dose of rituximab 9 months earlier (group B, five patients) and finally a group of patients who had received rituximab 12 months earlier (group C, five patients). All patients received two doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine 21 days apart. Patients underwent evaluation of the lymphocyte …

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Footnotes

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting or dissemination plans of this research.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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