Qin Chun-Ling, Yang Qing-Yong, Liao Yuan-Xing
Department of Dermatology, Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Command, Guangzhou 510010, China.
Di Yi Jun Yi Da Xue Xue Bao. 2002 Oct;22(10):939-41.
To investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Serodiagnosis was conducted in 134 SLE patients and 200 volunteer blood donors to examine the antibodies of HCV with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-3 (ELISA-3). Recombinant immunoblot assay-3 (RIBA-3) and PCR were performed to verify the results.
HCV infection was present in 15 patients with SLE (11.8%) and in 2 volunteer donors (1%, P<0.001). Compared with the SLE patients without HCV infection, the patients with HCV infection had a lower rate of cutaneous SLE features and dsDNA positivity (P=0.01 and P<0.001), but with higher incidences of hepatic damage (P<0.001) and low levels of C4 and CH50 (P=0.01 and P=0.03) as well as cryoglobulins levels (P=0.03).
The prevalence of HCV infection is higher in SLE patients than in non-SLE subjects, and SLE patients with positive HCV show a lower rate to present cutaneous SLE features and positive dsDNA antibody, but who have higher possibilities of hepatic damage, hypocomplementemia and cryglobulinemia.
