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. 2018 Jun 1;24(1):24.
doi: 10.1186/s10020-018-0019-4.

Serologic features of cohorts with variable genetic risk for systemic lupus erythematosus

Jyotsna Bhattacharya  1 , Karalyn Pappas  2 , Bahtiyar Toz  3 , Cynthia Aranow  1 , Meggan Mackay  1 , Peter K Gregersen  4 , Ogobara Doumbo  5 , Abdel Kader Traore  6 , Martin L Lesser  7 , Maureen McMahon  8 , Tammy Utset  9 , Earl Silverman  10 , Deborah Levy  10 , William J McCune  11 , Meenakshi Jolly  12 , Daniel Wallace  13 , Michael Weisman  13 , Juanita Romero-Diaz  14 , Betty Diamond  15
Affiliations

Serologic features of cohorts with variable genetic risk for systemic lupus erythematosus

Jyotsna Bhattacharya et al. Mol Med. .

Abstract

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences. In Western Europe and North America, individuals of West African descent have a 3-4 fold greater incidence of SLE than Caucasians. Paradoxically, West Africans in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have a low incidence of SLE, and some studies suggest a milder disease with less nephritis. In this study, we analyzed sera from African American female SLE patients and four other cohorts, one with SLE and others with varying degrees of risk for SLE in order to identify serologic factors that might correlate with risk of or protection against SLE.

Methods: Our cohorts included West African women with previous malaria infection assumed to be protected from development of SLE, clinically unaffected sisters of SLE patients with high risk of developing SLE, healthy African American women with intermediate risk, healthy Caucasian women with low risk of developing SLE, and women with a diagnosis of SLE. We developed a lupus risk index (LRI) based on titers of IgM and IgG anti-double stranded DNA antibodies and levels of C1q.

Results: The risk index was highest in SLE patients; second highest in unaffected sisters of SLE patients; third highest in healthy African-American women and lowest in healthy Caucasian women and malaria-exposed West African women.

Conclusion: This risk index may be useful in early interventions to prevent SLE. In addition, it suggests new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of SLE.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY and the Comité d’Ethique de la FMPOS, Bamako, Mali.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The cohorts are organized in order of the presumed risk from lowest (left) to highest (right). The MAL cohort had the highest mean IgM anti-DNA level, followed by the CHC cohort. The mean of the SIS cohort did not differ from the mean of the AAHC and the SLE cohorts
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The SLE and MAL cohort had significantly higher mean IgG anti-DNA levels than all other cohorts. The CHC, AAHC and SIS cohorts did not differ from one another and had lower titers than the MAL and SLE cohorts
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
SLE had the highest mean IgG/IgM anti-DNA antibody ratio. The mean ratios of the SIS, AAHC, and MAL cohorts did not significantly differ from each other. The mean ratio for the CHC cohort was significantly lower than all other groups
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The MAL cohort had the highest mean C1q level. The mean C1q levels of the CHC and AAHC cohorts did not differ from each other. The SIS cohort had a lower mean C1q level and the SLE cohort had the lowest level
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
All cohorts were significantly different from each other, except the CHC and MAL cohorts which showed no significant difference
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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