All patients in the study had normal or only slightly reduced kidney function. "However, IgA nephropathy is frequently a silent disease that is not diagnosed until kidney function is already damaged," Pozzi adds. "We want to verify if this treatment could be useful to slow down the progression of kidney disease in patients with severe renal insufficiency."

The study did not address the role of drugs called renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers. At the time the study began, RAS blockers were sometimes used in patients with kidney disease causing protein in the urine, but not always. "In the following years, RAS blockade has become more frequent in everyday clinical practice," Pozzi says. "Nearly 40 percent of the patients in our study started these drugs during follow-up." However, the preservation of kidney function may reflect more the effect of steroids, the researchers believe. Two recent studies found that steroids combined with RAS blockers are more effective than RAS blockers alone.

Source : Journal of the American Society of Nephrology