Antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies[ANCA] in active systemic lupus erythematosus

ABSTRACT

To test the presence of Antineutrophil cytoplasmic Autoantibodies [ANCA] in active SLE cases and its relationship to disease activity, 20 patients with active SLE [mean age=25 +/- 9.1 years] and 10 healthy controls [mean age=29 +/- 1.5 years] were studied. All were subjected to the following investigations C.B.C, E.S.R, C.R.P., blood urea, serum creatinine, L.E, cell test, detection of DNA by agglutination method, cDNA and ANCA by indirect immunofluorescent technique. Four cases [20%] were found to have c-ANCA, one [5%] was found to have P-ANCA and 15 cases [75%] were negative to ANCA. A statistically significant decrease was found in ANCA-negative cases when compared with ANCA-positive cases as regard; renal function test, T.L.C., absolute neutrophil count, ESR and total score of the disease activity. It may be concluded that ANCA may have a significant value as a marker of SLE activity and may be of pathogenic significance in SLE cases