Clinical application of tacrolimus in children with primary nephrotic syndrome / 中华肾脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical application of tacrulimus (TAC, FK506) in children with primary nephrotic syndrome (NS). MethodsSixty-five primary NS children received routine or decreased-dosage glucocorticosteroid according to clinical NS types after hospitalization. At the same time, TAC was given orally with the dosage of 0.1 to 0.15 mg/kg, once every 12 hours, for 6 to 24 months. And the serum concentration of TAC was monitored during the course. ResultsAfter the treatment of TAC for 1 to 2 months, 65 patients were recovered with gradually reduced urinary protein, rapidly increased serum albumin, and improvement of cholesterol and triglycerides. Total remission rate was 83.1% and onset time was 7 to 54 days. Twelve cases experienced recurrence. Increased CD4, as well as 3/3 or 3/1 TAC genotype, indicated higher remission rate. Various pathological types had different remission rates or ratio, which were as follows minimal change nephropathy (96.4%), mesangial proliferative glomendonephritis (90.0%), membranous nephropathy (2/3), membranous proliferative glomerulonephritis (3/5), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (4/9). The patients would recover in the course of treatment under the conditions of TAC initial dose as 0.1 to 0.15 mg /kg per 12 hours and controlled serum concentration as 5 to 10 g/L. During the treatment, 12 cases appeared gastrointestinal symptoms, mainly as anorexia, nausea and vomiting, 1 abdominal pain, 2 headache, 1 tremor, 1 paresthesia, 3 insomnia, 4 transient increased Scr, 8 slightly increased NAG, 6 increased C3 and α-2 macroglobulin. The symptoms disappeared within one week or after stopping TAC. ConclusionsTAC is effective in primary NS children, even with abnormal liver function or tuberculosis infection. TAC can also be a substitute to cyclosporine A.