Effect of prazosin on diabetic nephropathy patients with positive α1-adrenergic receptor autoantibodies and refractory hypertension

To investigate the effect of prazosin on patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN), α1-adrenergic receptor (α1-R) autoantibodies and refractory hypertension, a total of 126 patients with DN and hypertension were recruited. The patients were divided into a refractory hypertension group, (n=76) and a non-refractory hypertension group (n=50). The epitope of the second extracellular loop of the α1-R (192–218) was synthesized and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to detect serum autoantibodies. In the group with DN-associated refractory hypertension, the positive rate of autoantibodies against the α1-R was 80.3% (n=61). The 61 patients who were positive for α1-R autoantibodies were randomly divided into a treatment group (n=31) and a control group (n=30). The patients were given drugs at the same dosage and administration, with the exception of prazosin, which was provided only to the patients in the treatment group [1 mg, three times a day (tid)] for a duration of six weeks. Subsequently, prazosin was added (1 mg, tid) to the therapeutic schedule of the patients in the control group and the α1-R autoantibody-negative group for another six weeks. The analysis was carried out on an intention-to-treat basis. The prazosin treatment resulted in significant improvements in hypertension in the treatment group (P<0.05), while there was no marked improvement in the control group. The total effective rate of hypertension improvement was 90.3% in the treatment group, which was higher compared with that of the control group (33.3%). In conclusion, α1-R autoantibodies may play an important role in the pathogenesis of DN with refractory hypertension. Prazosin was demonstrated to be effective and safe in the treatment of DN with refractory hypertension.