BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Our purpose was to assess the presence of lupus anticoagulant and fibrinolytic system abnormalities in young patients with stroke. METHODS We studied 33 consecutive ischemic patients aged < 50 years. Lupus anticoagulant was screened by four different coagulation tests, and the fibrinolytic system was studied by analyzing tissue plasminogen activator antigen and plasmino...

Human lupus is strongly associated with a gene expression signature characterized by over-expression of Type I interferon-regulated genes. A strong interferon signature generally is not seen in the standard mouse models of lupus, despite considerable evidence for the involvement of toll-like receptor-driven interferon production. In contrast, pristane-induced lupus exhibits a prominent TLR7-dep...

BACKGROUND Geographical variation in lupus nephritis epidemiology may indicate important environmental factors contributions to the etiology of lupus nephritis. This paper first describes the epidemiology of biopsy-proven lupus nephritis in China by performing a systematic literature review and the possible social-environmental influential factors. METHODS The keywords "lupus nephritis", "ren...

BACKGROUND Lupus retinopathy is one of the most common vision-threatening complications of systemic lupus erythematosus. The presence of lupus retinopathy is an accurate guide to the presence of active systemic disease activity. RESULTS A prospective study was conducted looking at 91 established cases of systemic lupus erythematosus to evaluate lupus retinopathy. The patients were divided int...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus) is a complex disease with a multifactoral etiology, with genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences. Molecular mimicry as a result of viral infection may contribute to the development of lupus. The pattern of autoantibody development in lupus is consistent with initiation through molecular mimicry, as the initial autoantigenic epitopes that have ...

OBJECTIVES The British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) index is a standardized systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease activity assessment. The main aim of this study was to correlate the BILAG index with laboratory measures of disease activity in childhood-onset SLE with and without biopsy-proven lupus nephritis. METHOD Prospective observational comparison study of the BILAG index in...

OBJECTIVES Lupus flares are triggered by environmental agents that cause oxidative stress, but the mechanisms involved are unclear. The flares are characterized by oxidative modifications of proteins by 4-hydroxynonenals, malondialdehydes, carbonyls and nitration. These modifications have been proposed to induce and perpetuate lupus flares by "altered self" mechanisms. An epigenetically altered...

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multi-system inflammatory disease. The clinical manifestations are diverse. Hepatic manifestation is a rarely seen complication of systemic lupus erythematosus. We report a case of complication of systemic lupus erythematosus presenting as cholestatic hepatitis in a 56-year-old Chinese woman. The cholestatic hepatitis progressed as part of the lupus activity an...

Systemic lupus erythematosus is generally recognized to be a multisystem autoimmune disease with kidney involvement. However, the occurrence of other non-lupus glomerulopathies has been rarely reported in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. It is well known that lupus nephritis may switch over time to another class according to the World Health Organization classification. It seems like...

Drug-induced lupus is not a very common entity. Drugs like hydralazine, procainamide have been reported to induce lupus, but so far there is no case report of amiodarone-induced lupus in Indian literature. A case of atrial fibrillation in an elderly man who came with systemic features of lupus after amiodarone therapy for one and half years is reported.