prolactin level in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

background: recent accumulated evidence suggests that prolactin (prl) is an important immunomodulator and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (sle). the current study aimed to compare hyperprolactinemia frequency and evaluate its possible association with lupus activity in sle patients in zahedan. methods: in a case-control study we determined serum prolactin (prl) level in 40 female patients with sle (active=12 and non active=28) and in 40 normal healthy female subjects (nhs). clinical and serologic activity of disease was assessed for each patient using the sledai score. anti ds dna, c3, c4, ch50 were determined using elisa method. results: elevated serum concentrations of prl (> 25 μg/l) were found in seven patients and two nhs group, but there was no significant difference between lupus and control groups (p=0.07). hyperprolactinemia sle patients in active lupus group (sledai > 10) and inactive group were 6 and 1 respectively and there was significant difference between these two groups (p=0.001). conclusion: hyperprolactinemia was frequently detected in patients with active sle. the findings suggest significant correlation between hyperprolactinemia and lupus activity, which need further investigation including large sample size sle subject and control group.