Clinical assessment of low-dose steroid therapy for patients with IgA nephropathy: a prospective study in a single center

No accepted therapy has been established for progressive IgA nephropathy (IgAN). The purpose of the present study was to assess low-dose steroid therapy in the treatment of patients with IgAN.

A prospective trial of low-dose steroid therapy was performed in patients with IgAN with mild histological activities. Twenty-four patients in the steroid group and 24 patients in the control group were included in this study. The initial dose of prednisolone was 0.4 mg/kgBW/day (20–30 mg/day), gradually tapered to 5–10 mg/day over 24 months. The patients with mild active inflammatory lesions were treated with prednisolone. The patients assigned to the control group were treated with dipyridamole or zilazep hydrochloride in a dose of 150 or 300 mg/day.

In all of the patients studied, serum creatinine levels did not significantly change over 24 months. However, daily proteinuria significantly reduced after 24 months of steroid therapy (0.97 ± 0.75 vs. 0.31 ± 0.51 g/day, P = 0.0012), even if did not change after 24 months of anti-platelet drugs (0.89 ± 0.49 vs. 0.68 ± 0.69 g/day, P = 0.2289), respectively. In addition, the grade of hematuria significantly reduced after 24 months of steroid therapy (35.6 ± 36.3 RBC/HPF vs. 13.7 ± 28.4 RBC/HPF, P = 0.0249) and 24 months of anti-platelet drugs (30.1 ± 37.1 RBC/HPF vs. 12.4 ± 20.3 RBC/HPF, P = 0.0465), respectively. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures did not significantly change during treatment with steroid or anti-platelet drugs. Vascular changes (0.63 ± 0.73) in the steroid group were lower than those (1.08 ± 0.88) in the control group (P = 0.008).

Our data suggested that low-dose steroid therapy for IgAN patients with mild inflammatory lesions could reduce the amount of urinary protein excretion and prevent deterioration of renal function, provided the histological findings in the renal biopsies showed mild vascular lesions.