Cyclophosphamide induced early remission and was superior to rituximab in idiopathic membranous nephropathy patients with high anti-PLA2R antibody levels

Rituximab (RTX) and cyclophosphamide (CYC) based treatments are both recommended as first-line therapies in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) by KDIGO 2021 guideline. However, the efficacy of RTX vs. CYC-based treatments in IMN is still controversial. We performed this systemic review and meta-analysis registered in PROSPERO (CRD 42,022,355,717) by pooling data from randomized controlled trials or cohort studies in IMN patients using the EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane libraries (till Orc 1, 2022). The primary outcomes were the complete remission (CR) rate + partial remission (PR) rate. CR rate, immunologic response rate, relapse rate, and the risk of serious adverse events (SAE) were secondary outcomes. Eight studies involving 600 adult patients with IMN were included with a median follow-up duration of 12 to 60 months. RTX induced a similar overall remission rate compared with CYC (RR 0.88, 95% CI: 0.71, 1.09, P = 0.23). At the follow-up time of 6 months, RTX was associated with a lower CR + PR rate compared with CYC (RR 0.67, 95% CI: 0.52, 0.88, P = 0.003). Moreover, RTX might be less effective in inducing CR + PR than CYC treatment in IMN patients with high antiPLA2R antibody levels (RR 0.67, 95% CI: 0.48, 0.94, P = 0.02). The occurrences of CRs, relapse rates, immunologic response rates, and SAE were not significantly different between RTX and CYC, respectively. In conclusion, although the long-term efficacy and safety of CYC compared to RTX were comparable, CYC might respond faster and be more advantageous in IMN patients with high antiPLA2R antibody titers. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12882-023-03307-x.