Check our new article entitled “When should targeted therapies be used in the treatment of lupus nephritis: Early in the disease course or in refractory patients?” in Autoimmunity Reviews.
Highlights
- Despite the improvement of LN prognosis in the last few decades, 5–20% of patients affected with LN still progress to kidney failure.
- Belimumab and voclosporin, used on the top of standard of care (SoC), have been recently approved for the treatment of LN.
- In RCTs, a higher proportion of patients treated with the combinatory regimens achieved renal response, which is known to protect from nephron loss and kidney failure.
- Good predictors of renal response to SoC are lacking and, thus, it remains difficult to define those patients that will or will not benefit from combination therapies.
- The use of the combinatory regimens should be based on drug access, risks of over or undertreatment, and preservation of kidney function in high-risk individuals.
