title: [Hepatitis C virus infection combined with systemic lupus erythematosus].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, to investigate the influence of HCV infection, and to analyze the clinical appearances and experimental immunological characters of SLE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum of 92 SLE patients and 58 normal control people was taken, and the HCV infection and experimental immunological characters were detected. SLE patients were divided into HCV infection group and non-HCV infection group according to the detective results. The immunological characters and clinical appearances were analyzed in the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen of the 92 SLE patients were HCV positive, while only 2 of the 58 normal controls were positive. There were no significant differences in the clinical features including oral ulcer, arthritis, serositis, nephropathy, neural disorder, fever, as well as in the laboratory results including ANA, Anti-Ro/SSA, Anti-La/SSB, Anti-Sm, IgG and IgM in the two groups. HCV positive patients showed a lower frequency of butterfly erythema and positivity for Anti-dsDNA, and a higher frequency of cutaneous vasculitis, liver damage, positivity for RF and low C3, C4 levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with SLE showed a high prevalence of HCV infection, and HCV may cause some clinical and immunological changes in SLE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Hunan People's Hospital, Changsha 410005, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Gui-ying
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hong-fu
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Ming-liang
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Ling-yan
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult