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World J Nephrol. Aug 21, 2019; 8(4): 75-82
Published online Aug 21, 2019. doi: 10.5527/wjn.v8.i4.75
The role of mycophenolate in the treatment of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis
Maria Koukoulaki, Christos Iatrou
Maria Koukoulaki, Christos Iatrou, Center for Nephrology “G. Papadakis”, General Hospital of Nikaia – Piraeus “Agios Panteleimon”, Piraeus, Nikaia 18454, Greece
Author contributions: Koukoulaki M designed the study, acquired data, analyzed and interpreted data, drafted the article, and approved the final version submitted for review Iatrou C proposed the study, analyzed and interpreted data, critically revised the article, and approved the final version submitted for review.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Maria Koukoulaki, MD, MPhil, PhD, Associate Specialist, Center for Nephrology “G. Papadakis”, General Hospital of Nikaia - Piraeus “Agios Panteleimon”, D. Mantouvalou 3, Piraeus, Nikaia 18454, Greece. mkoukoulaki@gmail.com
Telephone: +30-213-2077658 Fax: +30-213-20176482
Received: March 4, 2019
Peer-review started: March 4, 2019
First decision: April 11, 2019
Revised: July 9, 2019
Accepted: July 16, 2019
Article in press: July 16, 2019
Published online: August 21, 2019
Core Tip

Core tip: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis is characterized by a remitting - relapsing course of disease that requires long term immunosuppression. Mycophenolic acid has been evaluated as induction and remission maintenance agent in the treatment of antibody-associated vasculitis as a less toxic agent compared to cyclophosphamide and azathioprine. Mycophenolate has been proven a potent immunosuppressive agent and non-inferior to other available drugs with comparable side effect profile, but several studies have shown a higher relapse rate following discontinuation of mycophenolate or in mycophenolate treated subjects. In this review, the role of mycophenolate in treatment of antibody-associated vasculitis is further discussed.