Objective. This longitudinal study aimed to determine the urine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (uMCP-1) levels in patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis (LN) at various stages of renal disease activity and to compare them to current standard markers. Methods. Patients with LN-active or inactive-had their uMCP-1 levels and standard disease activity markers measured at baseline and 2 and...

Objective. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease identified by a plethora of production of autoantibodies. Autoreactive T cells may play an important role in the process. Attenuated T cell vaccination (TCV) has proven to benefit some autoimmune diseases by deleting or suppressing pathogenic T cells. However, clinical evidence for TCV in SLE is still limited. Therefore, thi...

Objective We sought to evaluate different anti-double-stranded DNA assays for their performance characteristics in monitoring disease activity fluctuations in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods 36 active SLE patients were followed monthly. At each study visit (total n = 371), blood was collected and disease activity was scored using the SELENA-SLEDAI (excluding anti-dsDNA or compleme...

OBJECTIVES Th17/IL-17 dysregulation is involved in human autoimmunity, and recent evidence suggests the character of long-lived differentiated memory cells in Th17. By directly measuring the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), elevated circulating frequencies of Th17 cells have been reported in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with inconsistent results regarding the correlation with di...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune connective tissue disease associated with endothelial dysfunction and the existence of multiple species of autoantibodies. However, the association between endothelial dysfunction and renal manifestations remains unclear in Taiwanese SLE patients. METHODS Serum samples were collected from SLE patients with biopsy-prove...

We assessed the risk factors associated with death in patients hospitalized for juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) and evaluated the autopsy reports. A total of 57,159 hospitalizations occurred in our institution from 1994 to 2003, 169 of them involving 71 patients with JSLE. The most recent hospitalization of these patients was evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups based o...

Objectives. To characterize a novel anti-NKG2A autoantibody detected in a patient with SLE during a severe flare, and in a cross-sectional study investigate the occurrence of such autoantibodies in patients with SLE and primary SS (pSS). Methods. Serum or IgG from patients with SLE, pSS and healthy volunteers were assayed for blocking of anti-NKG2A or HLA-E binding to peripheral blood mononucle...

BACKGROUND Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a complex chronic immunological disease characterized by increased B cell activity and altered T cell function. OBJECTIVE To investigate relationship between T lymphocyte subsets and cortisol with the disease activity of systemic lupus erythematosus patients in North India. MATERIALS AND METHODS The percentage of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in ...

Lupus nephritis (LN) is a major cause of morbidity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Several cytokines and apoptotic markers such as IL-18 and soluble Fas (sFas) have been assumed to play a role in the pathogenesis of LN. Previous studies confirmed that serum concentrations of sFas and IL-18 are increased in SLE. However, only a few studies have suggested a possible correlati...

To identify Fc γ RIIA genotypes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients and their association with anti-C1q antibodies. Methods. Fc γ RIIA genotyping was done in eighty Indian SLE patients and eighty healthy controls using allele-specific PCR. Anti-C1q antibodies were measured by ELISA. Results. LN patients showed higher SLEDAI (6-32) as compared to SLE patients without renal manifestati...