Mycophenolate therapy of SLE membranous nephropathy

Mycophenolate therapy of SLE membranous nephropathy. The immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MMF) has been used successfully to manage proliferative forms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) glomerulonephritis (GN) World Health Organization (WHO) Classes III and IV. Less is known about MMF treatment of membranous SLE GN (WHO Class V, SLE MN). We report our experience with MMF therapy in 13 consecutive SLE MN patients participating in a prospective study of risk factors for SLE flare. Baseline characteristics were: mean age 33 ± 14 SD years, female/male ratio 11/2, Caucasians 7, African Americans 5, Oriental 1, serum creatinine 1.02 ± 0.41, and mean 24-hour urine protein (P)/creatinine (C), ratio 5.1 ± 4.1. Initial therapy was prednisone mean dose 31 ± 17 mg/day, and MMF mean dose 1173 ± 746 mg/day. Therapy also featured interventions to achieve renoprotection and proteinuria reduction. At 6 months of therapy, complete or partial remission was achieved in 10 of 13 patients. At most recent follow-up visit (mean follow-up 16 ± 8 months), 9 of 13 patients were in complete remission, and in 11 of 13 patients, urine P/C ratio was