title: Mycophenolate mofetil for the treatment of juvenile onset SLE: a multicenter study.
abstract: Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has proved to be an efficacious and safe therapy in adult lupus nephritis. Recently, this drug has been suggested as a possible new alternative treatment also for juvenile-onset SLE (juvenile-SLE). A multicenter study has been performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of MMF in controlling the disease activity in children and adolescents with juvenile-SLE. Our results show that MMF was effective in reducing the disease activity or as a steroid-sparing agent in 14 of 26 patients (54%), stabilised the disease in 8 (31%) and was ineffective in 4 (15%). In particular, in patients without renal involvement, a good response was registered in 9 of 13 patients (69%). Among those patients with renal involvement, MMF was effective in 5 of 13 patients (38%), partially effective in 4 (31%) and ineffective in 4 (31%). No severe side effects have been observed; only two patients stopped the drug because of severe diarrhoea and abdominal pain. With the limits of a retrospective study, MMF seems to be effective and safe for the treatment of juvenile-SLE, especially in patients with no renal involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, Division of Rheumatology, Transition Unit, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. falcini@unifi.it
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falcini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capannini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La Torre
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mangiantini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nacci
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Cerinic
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cimaz
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zulian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008181:Lupus Nephritis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D009173:Mycophenolic Acid