NITROGEN MUSTARD IN TREATMENT OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS

Abstract

CHASIS, Goldring, and Baldwin in 1949 reported on the favorable use of methyl-bis (β-chloroethyl) amine hydrochloride (nitrogen mustard) in glomerulonephritis.¹ Their rationale for using this drug was based on "the assumption that human glomerulonephritis is the result of tissue alterations in the kidneys induced by an antigen-antibody complex."² Nitrogen mustard is known to inhibit antibody production. Several confirmatory reports of the use of the agent in the nephrotic syndrome have appeared in the literature.* In a recent paper Baldwin, McLean, Chasis, and Goldring stated that the evidence favoring the use of nitrogen mustard in human glomerulonephritis is equivocal.² Dustan, Corcoran, and Haserick first used this drug in systemic lupus erythematosus with renal involvement.⁵ Rohn and Bond administered nitrogen mustard to five patients who had systemic lupus erythematosus without renal damage. Three cases were benefited.⁶ Since Duston's preliminary report, in 1951, we have treated 20 patients with active acute and subacute