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Background: Although glucocorticoids are effective in IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD), patients may relapse during or after glucocorticoid tapering. Immunosuppressive agents, including leflunomide (LEF), are regarded as steroid-sparing agents in other autoimmune disorders and need to be discussed in the management of IgG4-RD., Aim: To identify the efficacy and safety of combination therapy of LEF and glucocorticoids in IgG4-RD., Methods: We retrospectively summarised data of patients diagnosed with IgG4-RD between November 2012 and November 2015. Only patients treated with LEF plus glucocorticoids and had been followed up for more than three visits and 6 months were analysed with clinical symptoms, laboratory and imaging findings, treatment protocol, LEF-related adverse events and disease activity reflected by IgG4-RD Responder Index (IgG4-RD RI)., Results: A total of 18 patients, including 14 untreated patients and 4 relapsing patients, was included. The mean (SD) onset age was 54.0 (9.6) years. The mean (SD) follow-up period was 12.1 (7.4) months. All patients had active disease with mean (SD) IgG4-RD RI of 15.0 (5.6) at baseline and experienced improvements at 1 month. At the last follow up, the mean (SD) IgG4-RD Responder Index declined to 3.1 (1.7) in all patients and to 2.5 (1.2) in patients without relapse. The mean (SD) dose of GC declined to 6.9 (2.7) mg/day. A total of 12 (66.7%) and 11 (61.1%) patients were in remission at 6 months and the last follow up respectively. Three (16.7%) patients relapsed in clinical course. Two reversible adverse events were observed., Conclusion: The combination therapy of LEF and glucocoticoids is effective and safe in IgG4-RD., (© 2017 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.)

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of leflunomide (LEF) and glucocorticoids (GCs) combination therapy compared with GCs monotherapy in preventing relapse of IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD). A 12-month, randomized, open-label, controlled trial was conducted at a large academic medical center (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02703194). Enrolled patients with active IgG4-RD were randomly allocated to the GCs + LEF (20 mg/day) combination therapy or GCs monotherapy group. All patients received GCs with a predefined taper regimen starting from a dosage of 0.5–0.8 mg/kg/d. The primary outcome was the time to relapse. The secondary outcomes included complete response, remission, GCs dosage, and serum IgG4 level. Sixty-six patients with active IgG4-RD were enrolled (33 patients in each group). The demographic and disease characteristics showed no statistically significant differences between groups. Additionally, the initial GCs dosages were similar (50.00 vs. 50.00 mg/day, P = 0.295). Disease relapses occurred in 6 (18.2%) and 14 (42.4%) patients in the combination therapy group and GCs monotherapy group, respectively (P = 0.032). The combination therapy was significantly superior to GCs monotherapy regarding the primary outcome, the time to relapse (HR, 0.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.13–0.90; P = 0.023), as well as the secondary outcome, the time to complete response (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.01–3.02; P = 0.034). A longer duration of remission was observed in the combination therapy group (7.00 vs. 3.00 months, P = 0.002) and less cumulative dosage of GCs was used (5103.13 vs. 5637.50 mg, P = 0.031). Additionally, a higher proportion of patients in the combination therapy group (54.5%) were able to reach a daily GCs dose of ≤5 mg/day compared with the GCs monotherapy group (18.2%) (P = 0.006). The incidences of adverse events were similar in the 2 groups (P = 0.325). LEF in combination with GCs therapy is well-tolerated and significantly superior to GCs monotherapy in preventing the relapse of IgG4-RD. LEF can be used as a steroid-sparing agent in the management of IgG4-RD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]