ABSTRACT
The present study was carried out on 30 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE] and ten apparently healthy individuals as a control group.Systemic lupus erythematosus activity index [SLEDAI] was applied to all patients. Anti-double stranded DNA antibodies [Anti-dsDNA Abs.], interleukin-18 [IL-18] and soluble CD95 [Apo-1/Fas] were determined in the sera of all studied subjects. The mean +/-SD SLEDAI in all patients was 15.25+/- 6.76 . The anti-dsDNA antibodies was positive in all studied patients [mean +/- SD 264.36 +/- 114.85 IU/ml]. Serum IL-18 showed significant elevation in SLE patients as compared to the control group [Mean +/-SD 246.13+/- 114.32I U/ml vs. 45.5 +/- 7.32 IU/ml; p < 0.001]. Serum Soluble CD95 [sCD95] showed significant increase in all SLE patients as compared to the control group [Mean+/-SD 648+/-116.96 pg/ml vs. 270+/-50.24 pg/ml; p < 0.001]. Serum sCD95 also showed significant rise in SLE patients with moderate activity as compared to those with mild activity [Mean +/- SD 629.16+/- 72.54 pg/ml vs. 535 +/-35.97 pg/ml; p<0.05]. The serum level of sCD95 in SLE cases with severe activity showed significant increase when compared to those with moderate activity [Mean+/-SD 797.5 +/- 41.66 pg/ml vs. 629.16 +/- 72.54 pg/ml; p <0.001]. Anti-dsDNA antibodies showed significant positive correlation with SLEDAI [r=0.772; p<0.01]. IL-18 also showed a significant positive correlation with the SLEDAI [r=0.670; p<0.01]. Soluble CD95 showed significant positive correlation with SLDAI [r=0.865; p<0.01], with anti-dsDNA antibodies [r=0.775; p<0.01] and with IL-18 [r =0.722; p<0.01]. From these results it was concluded that serum sCD95 is increased in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and it is correlated with anti-dsDNA antibodies, with IL-18 and with the disease activity, so it can be useful marker of disease activity for proper management and follow up of SLE patients