Multitarget Therapy for Maintenance Treatment of Lupus Nephritis

Haitao Zhang, Zhengzhao Liu, Minlin Zhou, Zhangsuo Liu, Jianghua Chen, Changying Xing, Hongli Lin, Zhaohui Ni, Ping Fu, Fuyou Liu, Nan Chen, Yongcheng He, Jianshe Liu, Caihong Zeng, Zhihong Liu, Haitao Zhang, Zhengzhao Liu, Minlin Zhou, Zhangsuo Liu, Jianghua Chen, Changying Xing, Hongli Lin, Zhaohui Ni, Ping Fu, Fuyou Liu, Nan Chen, Yongcheng He, Jianshe Liu, Caihong Zeng, Zhihong Liu

Abstract

Our previous studies showed that multitarget therapy is superior in efficacy to intravenous cyclophosphamide as an induction treatment for lupus nephritis in Asian populations. We conducted an open label, multicenter study for 18 months as an extension of the prior induction therapy trial in 19 renal centers in China to assess the efficacy and safety of multitarget maintenance therapy in patients who had responded at 24 weeks during the induction phase. Patients who had undergone multitarget induction therapy continued to receive multitarget therapy (tacrolimus, 2-3 mg/d; mycophenolate mofetil, 0.50-0.75 g/d; prednisone, 10 mg/d), and patients who had received intravenous cyclophosphamide induction treatment received azathioprine (2 mg/kg per day) plus prednisone (10 mg/d). We assessed the renal relapse rate during maintenance therapy as the primary outcome. We recruited 116 patients in the multitarget group and 90 patients in the azathioprine group. The multitarget and azathioprine groups had similar cumulative renal relapse rates (5.47% versus 7.62%, respectively; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.25 to 2.67; P=0.74), and serum creatinine levels and eGFR remained stable in both groups. The azathioprine group had more adverse events (44.4% versus 16.4% for multitarget therapy; P<0.01), and the multitarget group had a lower withdrawal rate due to adverse events (1.7% versus 8.9% for azathioprine; P=0.02). In conclusion, multitarget therapy as a maintenance treatment for lupus nephritis resulted in a low renal relapse rate and fewer adverse events, suggesting that multitarget therapy is an effective and safe maintenance treatment for patients with lupus nephritis.

Keywords: adverse event; lupus nephritis; maintenance treatment; multitarget therapy; renal relapse.

Copyright © 2017 by the American Society of Nephrology.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The study design and flow diagram.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Probability of patients without renal relapse during the maintenance treatment.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Patients in each group maintained their CR status during the maintenance treatment. The CR rates were calculated using the generalized linear mixed model.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The changes in SCr levels and eGFR during the maintenance treatment. (A) SCr; (B) eGFR.

Source: PubMed

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