Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Mar 2019)

Efficacy and safety of tacrolimus in induction therapy of patients with lupus nephritis

  • Zhou TB,
  • Lin SJ,
  • Yang S,
  • Lin WS

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 857 – 869

Abstract

Read online

Tianbiao Zhou,1 Shujun Lin,1 Shen Yang,2 Wenshan Lin1 1Department of Nephrology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China; 2Department of Nephrology, Huadu District People’s Hospital of Guangzhou, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510800, China Background: The purpose of this study was to detect the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus (TAC) in induction therapy of patients with lupus nephritis. Methods: Associated studies were extracted from the PubMed and the Cochrane Library on July 10, 2018, and applicable investigations were pooled and analyzed by meta-analysis. Data on complete remission (CR), total remission (TR; complete plus partial remission), proteinuria levels, urine erythrocyte number, albumin, glomerular filtration rate, negative rate of ds-DNA, C3 levels, C4 levels, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLE-DAI), etc, were extracted and pooled using RevMan 5.3. Results: In the therapeutic regimen of TAC + glucocorticoids (GC) vs cyclophosphamide (CYC) + GC, the results indicated that the TAC group had high values of CR, TR, albumin, and negative rate of ds-DNA, and low values of proteinuria levels and SLE-DAI when compared with those in CYC group (all P<0.05). In the therapeutic regimen comprising TAC + GC  vs mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) + GC, the results indicated that the difference of CR, TR, proteinuria levels, and albumin between TAC group and MMF group were not significant (all P>0.05). In the therapeutic regimen comprising TAC + MMF + GC vs CYC + GC, multitarget therapy group showed higher values of CR, TR, urinary protein decline, and rise of serum albumin when compared with CYC group (all P<0.05). Conclusion: TAC is an effective and safe agent in induction therapy of patients with lupus nephritis. Keywords: tacrolimus, lupus nephritis, complete remission, CR, total remission, TR, meta-analysis

Keywords