SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS

"In our study, multitarget therapy is shown to be superior to traditional therapy for inducing complete remission of class V+IV lupus nephritis, with few side effects", said Dr. Lei-Shi Li of the University School of Medicine in Nanjing, China.

Lupus nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys occurring in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE. All patients had "class V+IV" disease, meaning widespread inflammation and decreasing kidney function.

The disease is traditionally treated with a single immunosuppressant drug, said Li, adding: "We considered that, since the impact of severe SLE on the kidney involves various parts of the immune system, it is necessary to treat the different immune targets with a combination of immunosuppressant drugs."

Patients receiving the immunosuppressant drugs tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil, plus a steroid, showed complete remission, with recovery of normal kidney function about four times higher than conventionally treated patients. "The complete remission rate reached 65 percent at nine months versus only 15 percent under traditional therapy", Li said.

The study appears in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

 BREAKING STORIES

Pakistani president visits China

3 Chinese dairy firms apologize

China to double farmers' per capita income

Industrial waste sickens hundreds in China

China may allow farmers to buy land rights

Ma eyeing relaxed Taiwan-China relations

Tainted milk prompts new Chinese standards

China raps U.S. again

Giant turtle breeding effort failed

Lawsuit filed in tainted milk scandal

Deadly quakes rock Kyrgyzstan, Tibet

China: Milk samples free of melamine

China denounces U.S. arms sale to Taiwan

Study: Lung disease to kill 80M Chinese

Group: China Censoring Internet Activities

Group: China censoring Internet activities

China: 22 detained in tainted milk scandal

Another Black Eye for China

Witnesses counter China terrorism claim

Cadbury recalls Asia chocolate products