Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate Alleviates Persistent Proteinuria in IgA Nephropathy

Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerulonephritis in the world.There is to date no curative therapy for patients with IgAN.It is considered that dendritic cells, Toll-like receptor (TLR) 9 and cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interferon-alpha (IFN-a) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), play an important role in the aberrant mucosal response. Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial agent and had a notable impact on immune activation by the reduction of circulating activated immune cells that including decreased TLR-expressing cells, reduced IFN-secreting plasmacytoid dendritic cells, reduced production of inflammatory cytokines including interferon alpha, IL-6 and TNF alpha. Recent studies showed hydroxychloroquine had a benefit for renal remission and could retard the onset of renal damage in patients with lupus nephritis. hydroxychloroquine may have the potential effect in IgA nephropathy, alleviated the proteinuria and had the renal protect effect. This will be a single center, prospective, randomized, controlled study to assess the utility of hydroxychloroquine in IgAN patients.