The Predictive Value of Autoantibody Spectrum on Organ Damage in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Fang YUAN1, Fenghua WEI2, Haiting HUANG1, Yi XUE1, Pengwei GUO1, Yanwu YOU1
1Department of Nephrology, Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, China
2Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Outpatients, Baise, China
Keywords: Autoantibodies, organ damage, systemic lupus erythematous
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to investigate the positive detection rate and predictive value of autoantibodies, including anti-double stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (anti-dsDNA) antibodies, anti-histone antibodies (AHAs), anti-ribosomal (anti-Rib) P antibodies, anti-Smith (anti-Sm) antibodies, anti-U1 ribonucleoprotein (anti-U1RNP) antibodies, anti-Sjögren’s syndrome type A antibodies and anti-Sjögren’s syndrome type B antibodies, on organ damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematous (SLE).
Patients and methods: A total of 225 patients with SLE (37 males, 188 females; mean age 37.4±15.9 years; range, 7 to 80 years) were evaluated retrospectively. Statistical analysis was performed to obtain the positive detection rate of autoantibodies and to investigate the predictive value.
Results: There were statistically significant differences of positive anti-dsDNA antibodies in renal damage, photosensitization, hematological abnormalities and serositis (p<0.05) and a statistically significant difference of positive AHAs in photosensitization (p<0.05). There was statistically significant difference of positive anti-U1RNP antibodies in renal damage (p<0.05). There were also statistically significant differences of positive anti-Smith antibodies in renal damage, arthritis, photosensitization, oral ulcers, hematological abnormalities and serositis (p<0.05) and of positive anti-Rib antibodies in renal damage, arthritis, photosensitization, malar rash, hematological abnormalities and serositis (p<0.05). However, there were no statistically significant differences of positive anti-Sjögren’s syndrome type B antibodies and anti-Sjögren’s syndrome type A antibodies in renal damage, arthritis, malar rash, neuropsychiatric disorders, hematological abnormalities and serositis (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Autoantibody spectrum is an important serological basis for SLE diagnosis. There are differences in the autoantibodies distribution of SLE patients with different organ damage, suggesting a certain clinical value for prediction of organ damage in SLE.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81560271, Key Project of Scientific Research of the Guangxi Colleges and Universities, No. KY2015ZD092, and the Program of Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi, No. 2014GXNSFAA118253 and 2017GXNSFDA198005.
The authors appreciate the tutorials on statistical analysis from Professor Shusong Deng. The authors thank all participants involved in this study and they would also like to thank Dr. Dev Sooranna, Imperial College London, for editing the manuscript.