Systemic lupus erythmatosus

BACKGROUND: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by a wide variety of autoantibodies, some of which are pathogenic. In recent years it has become more evident that the polyclonal B cell activation in SLE is T-cell dependent. The stimulation of the autoantibody producing B cells is likely mediated by the TH2 subtype of T cells producing IL-4, IL-5, IL-6 and IL- 10, whereas the TH1 subtype secreting IL-2 and IFN-gamma predominates in cell-mediated immune response...

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) and its inducer IL-12 have multiple biological activities that are important in generating Th1 responses and inflammatory tissue damage. We investigated serum concentration of the novel proinflammatory Th1 cytokine; IL-18, and its inducer IL-12 in patients with immune rheumatic diseases. Group I comprised32 patients of systemic lupus erythmatosus (SLE), Group II comprised 36 patients of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Group III comprised 9 patients (2 patients of Behcet, 2 patients of Dermatomyositis, 2 patients of Sicca syndrome, one patient of Scleroderma, and 2 patients of Mixed connective tissue disease)...

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Systemic lupus erythmatosus (SLE) is a multi-system autoimmune disease characterized by auto-reactive cells and auto-antibodies, which can potentially affect all organ systems. Typical organ systems that are affected include the heart, lungs, skin, kidneys, and central nervous system. Its expression is believed to be dependent on various factors such as genetic predisposition, environmental agents, immune dysregulation, crossreactivity with auto-antigens, alterations in auto-antigens, or most likely, a combination of these...

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the public health burden and impact of arthritis among women, document the growing interest in addressing arthritis as a public health problem, and review new national (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]) and state arthritis programs. RESULTS: Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases are a major public health problem, affecting nearly 27 million women in 1997 and accounting for 23.9 million ambulatory medical care visits and 451,000 hospitalizations among women in that year...

Early onset periodontitis (EOP) is considered to have a substantial genetic basis, although the gene or genes involved have not been elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate possible links between generalized EOP (GEOP) and genes regulating expression of the cytokines tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). Microsatellite marker DNA sequences corresponding to phenotypic variations in cytokine response were analysed. Genotypic variations in cytokine response have been shown in vitro for TNF and IL-10, and specific alleles are implicated in diseases such as systemic lupus erythmatosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)...

Antiphospholipid antibodies such as anticardiolipin antibodies and lupus anticoagulant are frequently detected in sera from patients with systemic lupus erythmatosus and from those with related autoimmune disorders. Thromboembolic manifestations, fetal losses or thrombocytopenia in association with antiphospholipid antibodies, are hallmarks of the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Recent studies indicates that anticardiolipin antibodies bind to beta 2-glycoprotein I and that a part of lupus anticoagulant binds to beta 2-glycoprotein I or to prothrombin...

OBJECTIVE: To test anti-Sa antibody in different autoimmune connective tissue diseases and analyze the relationship between Sa antibody and clinical manifestations and laboratory tests in rheumatoid arthritis. METHOD: Sa antigen was extracted from human placenta. Anti-Sa antibody was tested in 40 normal people and 478 connective tissue disease (CTD) patients using Western Blotting (WB). RESULTS: Sa antigen was a protein with molecular weights of 50 kD and 55 kD...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of antipolymer antibodies (APA) in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and autoimmune disease control groups and to determine if the presence of these antibodies correlates with severity in patients with FM. METHODS: Sera from patients with FM (n = 47), osteoarthritis (OA) (n = 16), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n = 13) were analyzed. Patients with implants of any kind and patients with concurrent autoimmune conditions were excluded from study...

IgA antibodies in the mucosal immune system are produced specifically to environmental antigens such as virus and bacteria, and possibly to some food components, which will provide a potential luminal antigen, DNA. To study the immune response to DNA in the gut, we established B-cell hybridomas producing IgA monoclonal antibodies (mAb) from Peyer's patches (PP) of non-immunized, non-autoimmune, specific pathogen-free BALB/c mice, and examined their specificity by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Three mAb out of 18 bound strongly to self, bacterial and synthetic DNA, with Kd of about 10-7 m...

Two cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with autoimmune hepatitis are reported. Both patients had a mild form of SLE without central nervous system or renal involvement and showed a rapid response to corticosteroid therapy. Neither of them had antibodies to mitochondria, smooth muscle, and liver/kidney microsome-1 related to autoimmune hepatitis. Instead, novel autoantibodies which react with transfer RNA-related antigen were detected. These autoantibodies could be a useful marker for classification of SLE associated with autoimmune hepatitis...

PURPOSE: To examine the prevalence of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACLA) in relatively young patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) and their role in subsequent coronary and thromboembolic events in the post-MI period. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In 124 relatively young survivors (aged 65 or younger) of acute MI, ACLA were measured in a controlled prospective study on admission and 3 months later. Myocardial reinfarction and thromboembolic events during a mean follow-up period of 19 +/- 3 months were diagnosed by standard tests...

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The occurrence of autoantibody to protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) was examined in sera from patients with alcoholic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, systemic lupus erythmatosus (SLE) and cancer. Judging by results of Western blotting using a purified preparation of PDI, the anti-PDI antibody was hardly seen in most sera from healthy controls but was raised in patients with alcoholic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, SLE and liver cancer. When the antibody titer to PDI was measured by radioactivity in a radioimmunoassay, positive values (cut off value; mean + 2SD = 256 cpm) were seen in 46% (11/24) of the patients with moderate alcoholic liver disease (mean radioactivity, 339 cpm) and in 54% (7/13) of those with severe alcoholic liver disease (mean radioactivity, 664 cpm)...

Presence of anti-heat shock protein (anti-hsp) antibodies have earlier been demonstrated in children as well as adult patients with systemic lupus erythmatosus (SLE). Since hsp share homology across several species, it is presumed that anti-E. coli antibodies could in fact be autoantibodies. Surface expression of hsps has also been shown to play a role in the generation of antibodies. In the present study antibodies to a recombinant hsp70 of Leishmania dnonvani origin have been investigated in patients with SLE and data compared with the incidence in control sera...

A case with evidence of acquired von Willebrand's syndrome associated with systemic lupus erythmatosus and Sjögren's syndrome is described. The patient, who had no family history of bleeding, presented a haemorrhagic diathesis of recent origin, the bleeding time was prolonged, procoagulant Factor-VIII and von Willebrand factor levels were low and platelet aggregation was decreased with different concentrations of Ristocetin. No improvement was seen after the tranfusion of cryoprecipitates, and there was no increase in procoagulant Factor-VIII...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.