TY - JOUR T1 - Longterm Followup After Tapering Mycophenolate Mofetil During Maintenance Treatment for Proliferative Lupus Nephritis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.101249 SP - jrheum.101249 AU - Katerina Laskari AU - Athanasios G. Tzioufas AU - Anna Antoniou AU - Haralampos M. Moutsopoulos Y1 - 2011/04/15 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2011/04/11/jrheum.101249.abstract N2 - Objective To determine the timing for safe reduction of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) dose during remission-maintenance therapy of proliferative lupus nephritis. Methods The study population consisted of 44 patients evaluated retrospectively; MMF dose was empirically tapered in 18/44 patients until the latest observation. Results Patients reducing MMF ≤ 18 months after remission/complete remission had a 6.8-fold/6.3-fold higher risk of relapse compared to those taking a stable dose (p = 0.001, p = 0.011, respectively). Reducing MMF later than 18 months was not associated with increased relapse rates. Conclusion Reducing MMF > 1.5 years after remission/complete remission seems to warrant drug tapering without increased risk of disease flare in proliferative lupus nephritis. ER -