Serologic and clinical features of patients with discoid lupus erythematosus: relationship of antibodies to single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid and of other antinuclear antibody subsets to clinical manifestations.
Serologic and clinical data were obtained from forty patients with discoid lupus erythematosus in 1982. Clinical disease was characterized by quality, extent, severity, activity, photosensitivity, and systemic manifestations. The patient's sera were examined for the presence of antinuclear, anti-Ro and anti-La, anti-ribonucleoprotein and anti-Sm, anti-single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA), and antinative DNA antibodies. In late 1984, thirty-three patients had follow-up clinical examinations. On the initial evaluation the patients with positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) findings were clinically characterized by a significantly higher incidence of photosensitivity and arthritis, an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and cutaneous lesions of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus. The activity and extent of disease in 1982 did not correlate with the presence of ANA. Elevated levels of ssDNA antibodies were present in seven of the forty patients (significantly greater than control subjects; (p less than 0.005) and correlated with widespread, active discoid lupus erythematosus, an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and a slightly greater risk of systemic lupus erythematosus in 1982. At the 2-year follow-up examination, thirteen of the seventeen patients with a positive ANA had active clinical cutaneous disease, and ten of the sixteen patients with negative ANA findings had continued activity (not statistically significant). However, all seven patients with elevated ssDNA antibody levels had continued activity, and disease progression had occurred in three. Thus the presence of ssDNA seems to correlate strongly with active, progressive lupus erythematosus. The presence of antibody abnormalities in patients with discoid lupus erythematosus correlates with clinical disease and provides more support for the theory linking discoid lupus erythematosus to systemic lupus erythematosus as part of a continuum.
D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000032:analysis*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008179:Lupus Erythematosus, Discoid / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D000906:Antibodies; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded