High-potency statins increase the risk of acute kidney injury: evidence from a large population-based study.

Objective: To assess the association between acute kidney injury and exposure to either high-potency statins or low-potency statins.

Design: A population-based, nested case-control study was performed on a cohort of 316,449 patients from Lombardy (Italy) newly treated with statins between 2007 and 2010 aged 40 years or older. 458 patients experienced acute kidney injury within six months after initial statin prescription.

Rituximab in children with resistant idiopathic nephrotic syndrome.

Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome resistant to standard treatments remains a therapeutic dilemma in pediatric nephrology. To test whether the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab may benefit these patients, we conducted an open-label, randomized, controlled trial in 31 children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome unresponsive to the combination of calcineurin inhibitors and prednisone. All children continued prednisone and calcineurin inhibitors at the doses prescribed before enrollment, and one treatment group received two doses of rituximab (375 mg/m(2) intravenously) as add-on therapy.

Saquinavir in steroid-dependent and -resistant nephrotic syndrome: a pilot study.

Background: Some difficult cases of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS) have been treated with a HIV protease inhibitor provided with proteasome-inhibiting activity. The objective of this study was to limit nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation which is up-regulated in these patients, aiming at decreasing proteinuria and prednisone need.

Methods: Ten cases with long-lasting (up to 15 years) history of NS with steroid dependence (six cases, of which three with secondary steroid resistance) or resistance to steroids (four cases) unsuccessfully treated with multiple immunosuppressive drugs, accepted a treatment with the protease inhibitor saquinavir.