Abstract
Renal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus patients is a severe disease manifestation characterized by various clinical and histopathological alterations. The revised International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society 2003 classification defines the subclasses of lupus nephritis (LN) according to their pathological glomerular patterns, which has a crucial impact on the prognosis and treatment options for LN patients. There are widely accepted therapeutic agents available, such as cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine and corticosteroids. Several trials have tried to determine a gold standard for induction and maintenance therapy in LN, and the place of newer drugs, biologicals, has been investigated. We review recently reported data on current treatment regimens in LN, in particular in the context of the International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society 2003 classification.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
This study was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DO 1419/1-1 (awarded to Sebastian Dolff). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Notes
LN: Lupus nephritis.
Data from Citation[18].
†Denotes more severe lesions.
The NIH scoring system for the activity and chronicity index is shown. Each item is graded on a scale of 0–3. The more severe lesions (†) are multiplied by 2. The sum of all features yields a score for the activity index between 0 and 24, and for the chronicity index between 0 and 12.