Effects of therapies on childhood systemic lupus erythematosus

: We analyzed the effects of three therapies on 30 patients with childhood systemic lupus erythematosus, and classified the patients into three groups. The therapies were as follows; Group A (8 cases), methylpredni-solone (mPSL) pulses plus oral prednisolone (PSL) alone, Group B (10 cases), mPSL pulses plus oral PSL and mizoribine (MZB) or azathioprine (AZP), Group C (12 cases), mPSL pulses and intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVCY) pulse therapy plus oral PSL and MZB or AZP. Three years after treatment, we compared the laboratory data (C3, C4, CH50 and anti-DNA antibody), the SLEDAI scores and numbers of relapses in these three groups. We demonstrated that group C had the best data, and this data indicated that the median C3, C4 and CH50 increased and that the median anti-DNA antibody and the mean of the numbers of relapses decreased. In conclusion, the combination of immunosuppressants and IVCY appeared to offer great benefits in childhood systemic lupus erythematosus.