Objective: To evaluate the clinical significance of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) expression in nephridial tissues of lupus nephritis (LN). Methods: Sixty-three patients with active LN and 15 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (combined without LN) were included. Renal biopsies were performed in the two groups. The biopsies were evaluated according to the World Health Organization (WHO) cla...

OBJECTIVE To determine the level of agreement of disease flare severity (distinguishing severe, moderate, and mild flare and persistent disease activity) in a large paper-patient exercise involving 988 individual cases of systemic lupus erythematosus. METHODS A total of 988 individual lupus case histories were assessed by 3 individual physicians. Complete agreement about the degree of flare (...

OBJECTIVES--To investigate urine neopterin as a parameter of disease activity in an unselected group of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to study the relation between urine neopterin and certain patterns of organ disease and differing drug regimens in the treatment of SLE. METHODS--Neopterin was determined by high performance liquid chromatography in 115 early morning urine ...

OBJECTIVE B cells are likely to contribute to the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and rituximab induces depletion of B cells. The Exploratory Phase II/III SLE Evaluation of Rituximab (EXPLORER) trial tested the efficacy and safety of rituximab versus placebo in patients with moderately-to-severely active extrarenal SLE. METHODS Patients entered with >or=1 British Isles Lup...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate and compare the clinical efficacy of three biomarkers for interferon (IFN) activity (measured directly and indirectly) and six traditional biomarkers in indicating current and prospective disease activity (DA) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS IFNα (dissociation-enhanced lanthanide fluorescent immunoassay), IFNγ-inducible protein 10 (IP-10) (ELISA) and sial...

Objectives To describe the baseline characteristics of SLE patients requiring biologic therapy in the UK and to explore short term efficacy and infection rates associated with rituximab (RTX) use. Methods Patients commencing biologic therapy for refractory SLE and who consented to join BILAG-BR were analysed. Baseline characteristics, disease activity (BILAG 2004/SLEDAI-2K) and rates of infec...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) can predict worsening of global and renal disease activity in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS One hundred eleven patients with childhood-onset SLE were enrolled in a longitudinal, prospective study with quarterly study visits and had at least 3 study visits. At each visit, global disea...

The optimal outcome measures to be employed in clinical trials of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have yet to be determined. Useful instruments should assess disease outcome in terms of all organ system involvement, as well as measures important to the patient. This article reviews those outcome measures that have been utilized in cohort studies in SLE, as well as their limited use in random...