Effects of deoxyspergualin on proliferative glomerulonephritis

A clinical trial of the immunosuppressive drug, deoxyspergualin (DSG), was conducted in five patients with various forms of proliferative glomerulonephritis (GN), such as IgA nephropathy in 2 patients, purpura nephritis in 1, membranoproliferative GN (MPGN) in 1, and rapidly progressive GN(RPGN) in 1 patient, respectively. DSG was intravenously administered at a daily dose of 0 .25 or 0.5 mg/kg for 4 weeks. A marked decrease in proteinuria (to less than 50 % of baseline) was observed in four patients. The other patient showed 38 % reduction of proteinuria. However, proteinuria exacerbated again after discontinuation of DSG in three patients during a four-week follow-up period. Marked decrease (3, 000/, μ l) in white blood cell (WBC) counts was observed in three patients during the course of DSG treatment. We concluded that DSG therapy is beneficial in reducing proteinuria in patients with various forms of proliferative GN. However, since proteinuria increased after the discontinuation of DSG and serious leukocytopenia was observed, indiscriminate use of DSG in proliferative GN should be discouraged.