[6][8] Variants 1 and 2 are poorly translated due to inhibitory upstream open reading frames and stem-loop structures within their 5' untranslated regions.

Members of this nascent protein family are characterized by common structural features and similar intron/exon splice boundaries and display unique expression patterns among hematopoietic cells and non-lymphoid tissues.

CD20 is also known to be physically coupled to major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII), CD40 and B-cell receptor (BCR).

[11] Thus, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) play a crucial role in the management of B cell malignancies as well as some inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

CD20 is the target of the mAbs rituximab, ocrelizumab, obinutuzumab, ofatumumab, ibritumomab tiuxetan, tositumomab, and ublituximab, which are all active agents in the treatment of all B cell lymphomas, leukemias, and B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.

Ocrelizumab was approved by the FDA in March 2017 for multiple sclerosis as the first treatment of the primary progressive form of MS. Clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus were discontinued in 2010 due to an infection related safety risk.

[20] Additional anti-CD20 antibody therapeutics under development (phase II or III clinical trials in 2008) include : A link between the immune system's B cells and diabetes mellitus has been determined.

[23] In cases of obesity, the presence of fatty tissues surrounding the body's major organ systems results in cell necrosis and insulin insensitivity along the boundary between them.

The protection afforded by anti-CD-20 lasted approximately forty days—the time it takes the body to replenish its supply of B cells—after which repetition was necessary to restore it.

Hence, it has been argued that diabetes mellitus be reclassified as an autoimmune disease rather than a purely metabolic one and focus treatment for it on immune system modulation.