J Res Med Sci. 2013 Mar;18(3):234-8.

Serum cryoglobulins and disease activity in systematic lupus erythematosus.

Journal of research in medical sciences : the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

Mansoor Karimifar, Samaneh Pourajam, Afshin Tahmasebi, Peyman Mottaghi

PMID: 23930122 PMCID: PMC3732906

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To determine the prevalence of cryoglobulins in Iranian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and evaluate the correlation of cryoglobulins with disease activity in these patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, we investigated 80 consecutive women who fulfilled the 1982 revised criteria of the American College of Rheumatology for the classification of SLE. All the patients had undergone a medical interview and general physical examination by a rheumatologist for clinical and serologic characteristics of SLE. For the determination of cryoglobulins, sera were collected by a standard protocol at 37°C, and after incubation at 4°C for seven days, the level of cryoglobulins was estimated for each patient.

RESULTS: Cryoglobulins were detected in the sera of 39 (48.8%) patients. All of these patients had cryocrit over 5%. Disease was active in 30 patients [SLEDAI ≥6 (DAI: disease activity index)] and inactive in 50 (SLEDAI <6). There was no significant difference between active and inactive patients for the presence of serum cryoglobulins (r = 0.086, P = 0.56). A significant positive correlation was observed between antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-dsDNA (dsDNA: Double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid), CH50 (CH50: total hemolytic complement assay), and C-reactive protein (CRP) (r = 0.21, P = 0.004, r = 0.65, P = 0.001, r = 0.45, P = 0.023, r = 0.38, P = 0.036, respectively). Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was not detected in any of the SLE patients.

CONCLUSION: Although the presence of cryoglobulins in the SLE patients correlated with positive anti-ds DNA and low CH50, it could not be predict activity of the disease.

Keywords: Cryoglobulinemia; disease activity index; systemic lupus erythematosus

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