Rituximab shows no effect on remission in patients with refractory nephrotic syndrome: A MOOSE-compliant meta-analysis

To assess the efficacy of rituximab in treatment of refractory nephrotic syndrome (NS) compared with other agents. Studies were searched from Web of Science, PubMed, and CNKI up to April 2016. The standardized mean difference or relative risk or odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were used to assess the efficacy of rituximab treatment compared with other agents in refractory NS. Totally, 8 studies were included. The present study showed that there was a significant higher relapse-free survival rate in rituximab group than that in the other agents group. Compared with other agents, rituximab did not significantly improve the complete and overall remission rate, serum albumin levels. Rituximab also did not decrease the serum creatinine, urinary protein, and serum cholesterol levels. However, compared with other agents, the adult patients had a higher serum cholesterol levels after treatment with rituximab. Rituximab promised to be a new agent in the treatment of refractory NS; it also could be used as an alternative to conventional immunosuppressive drugs-dependent or drugs-resistant. However, more high-quality, large sample, and multicenter randomized controlled trials are needed to further confirm the efficacy of rituximab in treatment of refractory NS.