Glomerulopathies are one of the leading causes of
end-stage renal disease. In the last years, clinical research has made significant contributions to the understanding of such conditions. Recently,
rituximab (RTX) has appeared as a reasonably safe treatment. The
Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes guidelines (KDIGO) recommended RTX only as initial treatment in antineutrophil cytoplasm antibody associated
vasculitis (AAV) and in non-responders patients with
lupus nephritis (LN), but these guidelines have not been updated since 2012. Nowadays, RTX seems to be at least as effective as other immunosuppressive regimens in
idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). In
minimal-change disease, (MCD) this
drug might allow a long-lasting remission period in
steroid-dependent or frequently relapsing patients. Preliminary results support the use of RTX in patients with pure membranous LN and
immunoglobulin-mediated
membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), but not in patients with class III/IV LN or
complement-mediated MPGN. No conclusion can be drawn in idiopathic
focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody
glomerulonephritis (
anti-GBM GN) because studies are small, heterogeneous, and scarce. Lastly, immunosuppression including RTX is not particularly useful in
IgA nephropathy. This review presents the general background, outcomes, and safety for RTX treatment in different glomerulopathies. In this regard, we describe randomized controlled trials (RCTs) performed in adults, whenever possible. A literature search was performed using clinicaltrials.gov and PubMed.