Can Cell Bound Complement Activation Products Predict Inherited Complement Deficiency in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus?

SLE and Serum Complement: Causative, Concomitant or Coincidental?

Background Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an incurable autoimmune disorder with complement activation playing a key role in the pathogenesis of immune-mediated tissue injury. While quantifying complement to monitor SLE disease activity has been the standard of care since the 1950s, decreased complement levels are not consistently associated with flares. Objective We seek to clarify the...

Severe Systemic Lupus Erythematosus presentation in patient with alternative complement pathway mutations

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with broad clinical manifestations characterized by the production of autoantibodies1 which can have multi -organ involvement2 with tissue damage produced mainly by complement activation by immune complexes (IC).3 As a result of this activation, patients present hypocomplementaemia during disease flares, but C3 and C4 levels are expect...

Measurements of Cell Bound Complement Activation Products Enhance Diagnostic Performance in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Deficiencies of Early Components of the Complement Classical Pathway

The complement system plays an important role in the innate and acquired immune response against pathogens. It consists of more than 30 proteins found in soluble form or attached to cell membranes. Most complement proteins circulate in inactive forms and can be sequentially activated by the classical, alternative, or lectin pathways. Biological functions, such as opsonization, removal of apopto...

Systemic lupus erythematosus and primary fibromyalgia can be distinguished by testing for cell-bound complement activation products

OBJECTIVE We sought to establish the performance of cell-bound complement activation products (CB-CAPs) as a diagnostic tool to distinguish primary fibromyalgia (FM) from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS A total of 75 SLE and 75 primary FM adult subjects who fulfilled appropriate classification criteria were enrolled prospectively. CB-CAPs (erythrocyte-C4d (EC4d) and B-lymphocyte-C...