title: Successful treatment of class V+IV lupus nephritis with multitarget therapy.
abstract: Treatment of class V+IV lupus nephritis remains unsatisfactory despite the progress made in the treatment of diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis. In this prospective study, 40 patients with class V+IV lupus nephritis were randomly assigned to induction therapy with mycophenolate mofetil, tacrolimus, and steroids (multitarget therapy) or intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVCY). Patients were treated for 6 mo unless complete remission was not achieved, in which case treatment was extended to 9 mo. An intention-to-treat analysis revealed a higher rate of complete remission with multitarget therapy at both 6 and 9 mo (50 and 65%, respectively) than with IVCY (5 and 15%, respectively). At 6 mo, eight (40%) patients in each group experienced partial remission, and at 9 mo, six (30%) patients receiving multitarget therapy and eight (40%) patients receiving IVCY experienced partial remission. There were no deaths during this study. Most adverse events were less frequent in the multitarget therapy group. Calcineurin inhibitor nephrotoxicity was not observed, but three patients developed new-onset hypertension with multitarget therapy. In conclusion, multitarget therapy is superior to IVCY for inducing complete remission of class V+IV lupus nephritis and is well tolerated.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Nephrology, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Zhi-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hong-Lang
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Wei-Xin
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hai-Tao
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lei-Shi
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008181:Lupus Nephritis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011241:Prednisone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid; D011241:Prednisone; D016559:Tacrolimus