Simple blood tests could help physicians decide which patients with a particular autoimmune kidney disease can forgo potentially toxic medications and which need to be treated, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Idiopathic membranous nephropathy is an autoimmune kidney disease that leads to kidney failure in at least half of patients if left untreated. Immunosuppressive therapy is effective, but toxic. “It is unclear who should be treated, when treatment should be started, and how long treatment should be continued. We need better tools to aid decision-making,” said Julia Hofstra, MD, PhD (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, in The Netherlands).
