Effect of therapy with deflazacort on dyslipoproteinemia after pediatric renal transplantation

Abstract

Deflazacort is an oxazolone compound derived from prednisolone, with similar immunosuppressive action but fewer side effects. Kidney function, weight/height ratio, serum triglycerides, cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, apolipoprotein A, apolipoprotein B, and lipoprotein (a) were studied before and 6 months after substitution of deflazacort (mean +/- SEM, 0.3 +/- 0.1 mg/kg per day) for methylprednisone (0.2 +/- 0.1 mg/kg per day) in 14 patients treated with cyclosporine, aged 3.1 to 20.3 years, 3 years after renal transplantation. Serum creatinine and calculated creatinine clearance did not change significantly, and weight/height ratio decreased from 20.0% +/- 7.1% to 12.5% +/- 6.5% (P < .005) during deflazacort therapy. Total cholesterol was reduced by 15.9% (from 233 +/- 15 mg/dL to 196 +/- 13 mg/dL, P < .01), LDL cholesterol by 25.5% (from 153 +/- 14 mg/dL to 114 +/- 12 mg/dL, P < .01), and TC/HDL cholesterol ratio by 28.3% (from 5.3 +/- 0.4 to 3.8 +/- 0.4, P < .01), whereas HDL cholesterol increased 18% (from 45 +/- 2 mg/dL to 53 +/- 2 mg/dL) and apolipoprotein A by 8.3% (from 122 +/- 5 mg/dL to 132 +/- 5 mg/dL, P < .05) during deflazacort therapy. Our data suggest that substituting deflazacort for maintenance methylprednisone therapy leads to an improvement in the lipoprotein profile of children after renal transplantation.