A simple and reproducible method for the measurement of serum neutrophil clustering activity was developed. High clustering activity was found in 19/30 patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 14/20 of those with severe disease flares. In contrast, 0/10 patients with quiescent SLE and 2/20 patients with rheumatoid arthritis had high neutrophil clustering activity. Particular...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to analyze the T-cell subset distribution in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and determine whether vincristine-cyclophosphamide combination therapy can positively affect their T-cell subset distribution to keep the disease in remission. MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirteen SLE patients with 'low activity' (SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI)≤9), 17 SLE patient...

Background: Considering the role of Duffy antigenic system expression on RBCs as chemokines for inflammatory cytokines, expression of Duffy antigens as different phenotypes was studied in a group of patients with SLE. The association between different phenotypes of Duffy antigens and occurrence of SLE and its severity was assessed.  Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 100 pa...

OBJECTIVE Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a severe autoimmune disease with rare remission and recurrent flare. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection has been reported to be strongly associated with SLE in the United States, but with an inconclusive role in Asia. We investigated the role of EBV infection in patients with SLE in Taiwan, with one of the highest population densities in Asia. M...

INTRODUCTION Anti-phospholipid antibodies (APA) like anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) are important cause of venous and arterial thrombosis and other occlusive vascular diseases. Prevalence of these antibodies in SLE patients at the time of diagnosis is not known in Indian SLE patients. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of ACA in SLE patients from Eastern and Western India and...

The aim of this study was to determine whether decreased serum sodium concentration could be associated with the disease activity in SLE. We retrospectively analyzed the data of the two independent cohorts of children and adults with SLE in two centers. Hyponatremia was associated with serum chloride (p = 0.004), albumin (p = 0.002) and SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) (p = 0.026) in childre...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototypical autoimmune disease characterized by production of autoantibodies. Mannose binding lectin (MBL) is an important element of the innate defense system. t0 he present study was undertaken to determine whether variant alleles in MBL2 gene were associated with disease severity in SLE patients. METHODS The MBL alleles [-550...

INTRODUCTION In a recent screening to detect biomarkers in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), expression of the iron storage protein, ferritin, was increased. Given that proteins that regulate the storage, transfer and release of iron play an important role in inflammation, this study aims to determine the serum and urine levels of ferritin and of the iron transfer protein, transferrin, in lup...

OBJECTIVE In systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) autoantibody production is T cell dependent. For a proper T and B cell interaction, signalling of costimulatory molecules on these cells is necessary. The expression of costimulatory molecules on peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with SLE in conjunction with disease activity was measured to evaluate whether expression of costimulatory molec...