Eculizumab treatment in atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome: correlation between functional complement tests and drug levels

Background: Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is characterized by platelet consumption, hemolysis, and renal injury. Eculizumab, a humanized antibody that blocks complement activity, has been successfully used in aHUS, but the best treatment schedule has not yet been clearly defined.

Methods: Herein we report our experience with eculizumab maintenance treatment, in which the interval between subsequent doses was adjusted based on classical complement pathway (CCP) activity, targeted to < 30% for the prevention of relapses. Trough circulating levels of free eculizumab were determined by an immunoenzymatic method. Genetic and serologic characteristics of the patients were also assessed.

Results: We report on 38 patients with aHUS with a median age of 25.0 years (range 0.5-60.0 years) treated with eculizumab. Once stable disease remission was obtained, the interval between eculizumab doses was extended based on target CCP activity. With this approach, presently, 22 patients regularly receive eculizumab infusion every 28 days and 16 receive it every 21. During a median observation period of 32.3 months (range 4.0-92.4 months) and a cumulative period of 1295 months, no patient relapsed. An inverse correlation between CCP activity and eculizumab circulating levels was present (r = - 0.690, p = 0.0001), with CCP activity being inhibited as long as free eculizumab was measurable in serum.

Conclusions: In patients with aHUS on eculizumab maintenance treatment, complement activity measurement can be used as a proxy for circulating levels of the drug. Monitoring complement activity allows for safe tailoring of the frequency of eculizumab administration, thus avoiding excessive drug exposure while keeping the disease in remission.