Clinical efficacy and safety of leflunomide combined with prednisone in the treatment of immunoglobulin A nephropathy / 中国基层医药

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the clinical efficacy and safety of leflunomide combined with prednisone in the treatment of immunoglobulin A nephropathy.Methods 80 patients with IgA nephropathy were chosen and randomly divided into two groups,40 cases in each group.The control group was orally given prednisone(initial dose 1 mg · kg-1 · d-1),after 2 months of treatment 5mg/2 weeks reduction,and 10mg/d as maintenance therapy,while the observation group was treated with 20mg/d leflunomide treatment based on the treatment of control group.All the two groups had 3 months as a course of treatment.Before treatment and after treatment,the 24h urinary protein,serum albumin,serum creatinine,glomerular filtration rate,cholesterol,triglycerides,cystatin C levels and urinary vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 after treatment (urinary VCAM-1) and interleukin-18 (IL-8) in the two groups were recorded and compared,as well as the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions.Results The total effective rate in the observation group was 92.5％,which was significantly higher than 75.0％ in the control group (x2 =4.501,P ＜ 0.05).After treatment,the serum creatinine,serum albumin,cholesterol,triglycerides,cystatin C,24h urine protein,glomerular filtration rate and urinary VCAM-1,IL-8 in the two groups were all significantly improved (t ≥ 1.945,all P ＜ 0.05).After treatment,the cholesterol and triglycerides in the two groups had no significant differences (t =0.322,1.307,all P ＞ 0.05).After treatment,in the observation group,the serum creatinine,cystatin C,24h urinary protein excretion,VCAM-1 and IL-8 in urine were significantly lower than those in the control group,while serum albumin and glomerular filtration rate were significantly higher (t ≥2.632,all P ＜ 0.05).In the observation group,the total effective rate of Ⅳ,Ⅴ grade by Lee classification were significantly higher (x2 =4.269,4.600,all P ＜ 0.05).And in the two groups,the total effective rate of Ⅰ,Ⅱ grade by Lee classification had no statistically significant differences(x2 =0.000,0.000,all P ＞0.05).In the observation group,the incidence rate of adverse reaction was 10.0％,that in the control group was 8.6％,there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (x2 =0.157,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Leflunomide combined with prednisone in the treatment of IgA nephropathy has better clinical efficacy and higher safety,its mechanism may be associated with decreased urinary VCAM-1 and serum IL-18 levels.