"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.