The highly specific biomarkers for monitoring of SLE disease activity are not yet defined up to date, due to existing of different clinical SLE phenotypes caused by individual genetic variation. Basically, numerous clinical complications follow SLE patients such as nephritis, atherosclerosis and cardial, CNS, gastrointestinal and ophthalmological complications, as well. Their monitoring in clin...

INTRODUCTION Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease associated with a break in self-tolerance reflected by a production of antinuclear autoantibodies. Since autoantibody production can be activated via nucleic acid Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), the respective pathway has been implicated in the development of SLE and pathogenic B cell responses. However, the response of B cel...

Background: Treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is tailored according to the intensity SLE disease activity and aims achieve remission. Current definitions remission categories are mostly based on Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI), which has important limitations. The Score (SLE-DAS) a validated continuous score with higher accuracy in measuring sensitivity-to-change as compared SLEDA...

Standardized criteria to classify systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease activity provide a well-defi ned methodology to accurately assess SLE. These criteria were recently revised to refl ect new knowledge of SLE, both clinical and immunologic. Although developed to classify SLE, these criteria can help with the diagnosis in clinical practice. Research has also provided additional evidence...

Both membrane-bound and soluble forms of costimulatory molecules play important roles in immune-regulatory networks. B7-H3, a member of the B7 family, has been found with aberrant expression in tumors and infectious disease. However, the significance of sB7-H3 expression in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has not been investigated. Using the peripheral blood of 78 SLE patients, we establishe...

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic , inflammatory autoimmune disease with a wide range of clinical and immunological abnormalities. The presence of varied autoantibodies, immune complex deposition and end organ damage are characteristic of the disease. Among the wide range of anti-nuclear antibodies lined up in the diagnostic armamentarium of SLE presently, antinucleosome antibodies are ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the utility of anti-chromatin antibodies for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and as markers of disease activity. METHODS We included 73 consecutive patients (62 female) with SLE (four or more ACR criteria) of recent onset (<1 yr since diagnosis). As control groups we included 130 healthy blood donors and 261 patients with 11 systemic autoimmune disease...

BACKGROUND Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is an immunosuppressive drug widely used in solid organ transplantation, and it may play an increasing role in autoimmune disease. MMF has been introduced as a novel immunosuppressive agent in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), often in patients intolerant of or resistant to conventional immunosuppressive regimens. METHODS We studied 21 patients with SL...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the cellular populations and regulatory factors responsible for B-lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) overexpression in SLE patients. METHODS Surface and intracellular BLyS levels were quantified by flow cytometry in healthy and SLE monocytes cultured in the presence of TNF-α, IFN-α, IFN-γ, GM-CSF and SLE immune complexes (SLE-ICs), while soluble BL...