Implications of immunosuppressive agents in cardiovascular risks and carotid intima media thickness among lupus nephritis patients

Abstract

Aggressive treatment of severe LN and the use of CyA as a steroid-sparing agent may have protective effects against premature atherosclerosis.

Why are kids with lupus at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease?

“…In vitro plasmacytoid dendritic cells from SLE patients treated with hydroxychloroquine showed an impaired ability to produce interferon-α (IFN-α) and tumor necrosis factor-α when stimulated with TLR-9 and TLR-7 agonists [152]. In addition to its efficacy in preventing flares of SLE, there is epidemiological evidence [74,98,153] that it may be cardioprotective, possibly by improving the lipoprotein profile [154] and improving vessel elasticity [155]. A recent longitudinal study [156] of 24 patients with SLE treated with hydroxychloroquine showed a reduction in total cholesterol and LDL after 3 months of therapy.…”

“…Early management of CKD in JSLE is a vital part of modifying their CV risk profile. Aggressive treatment of LN appears to have protective effects against premature atherosclerosis, [98] offering some hope that this may be a modifiable risk factor.…”

Cardiovascular risk factors, burden of disease and preventive strategies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a literature review

“…Recently, two studies, which included a limited number of patients, suggested a possible protective role of cyclosporine A on atherosclerosis [60,61].…”

The vascular phenotype of children with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…There is evidence to suggest that the change in phenotype may be due not only to disease-specific risk factors (such as severity and duration of disease [5][6][7], renal impairment [8][9][10] and medications [1,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]) but also to a clustering of traditional risk factors (such as increasing age, obesity, smoking and reduced physical activity [15,[18][19][20]). …”