Comparison of combined leflunomide and low-dose corticosteroid therapy with full-dose corticosteroid monotherapy for progressive IgA nephropathy

IgA nephropathy is the most common primary glomerulonephritis and one of the leading causes of end-stage renal disease. We performed a randomized, controlled, prospective, open-label trial to determine whether leflunomide combined with low-dose corticosteroid is safe and effective for the treatment of progressive IgA nephropathy, as compared to full-dose corticosteroid monotherapy. Biopsy-proved primary IgA nephropathy patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥ 30 ml/min/1.73m(2) and proteinuria ≥1.0 g/24h were randomly assigned to receive leflunomide+low-dose corticosteroid (leflunomide group; n = 40) or full-dose corticosteroid (corticosteroids group; n = 45). The primary outcome was renal survival; secondary outcomes were proteinuria and adverse events. After 12 months of treatment and an average follow-up of 88 months, 11.1% vs. 7.5% of patients reached end-stage renal disease and 20% versus 10% of patients had a ≥ 50% increase in serum creatinine in the corticosteroids and leflunomide groups, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis did not reveal a between-group difference in these outcomes. Decreases in 24-hour proteinuria were similar in the two groups during the treatment period, but a more marked reduction was observed during follow-up in the leflunomide group. Although the incidence of adverse events was similar in the two groups, serious adverse events were observed only in the corticosteroid group. Thus, leflunomide combined with low-dose corticosteroid is at least as effective as corticosteroid alone for the treatment of progressive IgA nephropathy, and showed a greater reduction of proteinuria during long-term follow-up and fewer severe adverse events.