Abstract

To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids plus immunosuppressive agents for systemic lupus erythematosus. Between March 2018 and March 2022, 72 systemic lupus erythematosus patients were recruited and assigned to receive either glucocorticoids (control group) or immunosuppressive drugs plus glucocorticoids (observation group) via random number table method. Outcome measures included clinical efficacy, safety, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index score, immunoglobulin, complement factor C3/C4 levels and N-glycan changes. After the intervention, the systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index scores and urine protein levels of the observation group were lower than those of the control group immunosuppressive drugs plus glucocorticoids resulted in significantly decreased systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index scores and urine protein levels and higher treatment efficiency (χ²=1.424, p=0.033) vs. glucocorticoids alone (p<0.05). The difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups did not come up to the statistical standard (p>0.05). Patients in the observation group showed higher complement factor C3 levels at 6 mo and 9 mo after therapy and higher levels of complement factor C4 at 3 mo and 6 mo after therapy than those in the control group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in antibody protein between the two groups. Immunosuppressive agents plus glucocorticoids provide significant therapeutic benefits for systemic lupus erythematosus management by lowering the serum immune protein levels, improving immunological function and increasing complement factors C3 and C4 levels with consistent safety. Despite the efficacy of this treatment modality, future studies with larger samples are encouraged to provide further high-quality evidence-based evidence.