The 10-year follow-up data from the MAINTAIN nephritis trial showed that mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) was not superior to azathioprine (AZA) as maintenance therapy for a population of white patients with proliferative lupus nephritis. Survival, kidney function, 24 h proteinuria and renal flares were assessed in 92 of 105 patients originally randomized to receive MMF or AZA between 2002 and 2006; 13 had been lost to follow-up. Death (2 in the AZA group, 3 in the MMF group) and end-stage renal disease (1 in the AZA group, 3 in the MMF group) were rare in both groups and time to flare did not differ between the two groups (22 flares in the AZA group and 19 in the MMF group). Interestingly, the authors found that an early decrease of 24 h proteinuria was indicative of a good long-term renal outcome.
References
Tamirou, F. et al. Long-term follow-up of the MAINTAIN Nephritis Trial, comparing azathioprine and mycophenolate mofetil as maintenance therapy of lupus nephritis. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-206897
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MMF not superior to AZA as maintenance therapy. Nat Rev Rheumatol 11, 258 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2015.47
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2015.47
