Paricalcitol treatment is associated with a significant reduction in protein excretion in patients with proteinuric renal disease, according to researchers.
Steven Fishbane, MD, and colleagues at Winthrop-University Hospital, Mineola, N.Y., studied 61 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 15-90 mL/min/1.73 m2 and protein excretion greater than 400 mg/day. They randomly assigned subjects to receive six months of paricalcitol at a dosage of 1 μg/day or placebo.
At baseline, mean urinary protein to creatinine ratios were 2.8 and 2.6 g/g in the paricalcitol and placebo groups, respectively. At the final study evaluation (six months for those completing the study), the mean ratios were 2.3 and 2.7, respectively.
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Protein excretion from baseline to final evaluation rose declined by 17.6% in the paricalcitol group and rose by 2.9% in the placebo arm, a significant between-group difference, the investigators reported in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (2009; published online ahead of print). In addition, significant more paricalcitol-treated patients than placebo recipients had a 10% decrease in proteinuria (57.1% vs. 25.9%).
