title: Autoantibodies Affect Brain Density Reduction in Nonneuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients.
abstract: This study explores the relationship between autoantibodies and brain density reduction in SLE patients without major neuropsychiatric manifestation (NPSLE). Ninety-five NPSLE patients without obvious cerebral deficits, as determined by conventional MRI, as well as 89 control subjects, underwent high-resolution structural MRI. Whole-brain density of grey matter (GMD) and white matter (WMD) were calculated for each individual, and correlations between the brain density, symptom severity, immunosuppressive agent (ISA), and autoantibody levels were assessed. The GMD and WMD of the SLE group decreased compared to controls. GMD was negatively associated with SLE activity. The WMD of patients who received ISA treatment were higher than that in the patients who did not. The WMD of patients with anticardiolipin (ACL) or anti-SSB/La antibodies was lower than in patients without these antibodies, while the GMD was lower in patients with anti-SM or anti-U1RNP antibodies. Thus, obvious brain atrophy can occur very early even before the development of significant symptoms and specific autoantibodies might contribute to the reduction of GMD or WMD in NPSLE patients. However, ISAs showed protective effects in minimizing GMD and WMD reduction. The presence of these specific autoantibodies might help identify early brain damage in NPSLE patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China.
authors.forename: Yuqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China.
authors.forename: Aiyun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China.
authors.forename: Zhaoping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, NY 11724, USA.
authors.forename: Robert A A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8330-4477
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, First Hospital of Kunming City, Kunming 650011, China.
authors.forename: Hongjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, First Hospital of Kunming City, Kunming 650011, China.
authors.forename: Chunrong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Baoci
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China.
authors.forename: Xiufeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies