1. EULAR Lupus Nephritis Trials Network Study Group
The mission of the Lupus Nephritis Trials Network (LNTN) is to improve outcomes for patients with lupus nephritis through i): the conduct of clinical trials designed to prevent chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney failure; and ii): the development of clinical trial methodologies that improve and simplify the assessment of therapeutic agents. The network involves 202 members across 40 countries (106 European section and 96 American/Asian section)
Project 1 - Outcome measures in lupus nephritis trials to identify early prognostic markers of long-term outcome via trial data, real life cohorts and a prospective registry
Dall’Era M et al., Arthritis Rheumatol 2015; 67: 1305, Tamirou F et al., Lupus Sci Med 2015; 2: e000123, Mackay M et al., Establishing endpoints for Lupus Nephritis Clinical trials. Development and validation of a novel approach to predict future kidney outcomes, under review)
Project 2 – CALIBRATE trial to study autoreactive B cell reconstitution after rituximab, cyclophosphamide and steroids, alone or followed by belimumab (15 US sites; enrollment target 40 reached; trial conducted by the ITN)
Project 3 – Renal repeat biopsy study to correlate clinical and immunological responses (in progress; I. Parodis, J. Menke, F. Tamirou, HJ Anders, FA Houssiau)