[A case of systemic lupus erythematosus complicated with monoclonal CD5 + B cell proliferation suspected as chronic lymphocytic leukemia].

A case of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) complicated with monoclonal CD5 + B cell proliferation in peripheral blood and bone marrow is reported. A 59-year-old man suffering from left chest pain was admitted to the hospital because of thrombocytopenia (platelets 1.9 x 10(4)/mm3). The diagnosis of SLE was made from (1) pleuritis (2) autoimmune thrombocytopenia (3) positive anti-DNA antibodies, positive LE cell preparation (4) positive antinuclear antibodies. Prednisolone 60mg per day was started. From that time monoclonal CD5 + B cells began to increase in peripheral blood (maximum lymphocyte counts 11000/mm3, CD5 + B cells 77.6%) and bone marrow, and the complication of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was suspected. It is said that patients of CLL often have various autoantibodies, and in about 15% of CLL patients complicate autoimmune hemolytic anemia, but those who develop collagen diseases are rare. And while lymphoid malignancies occur more often in the patients of SLE in comparison with normal subjects, the reports of the patients who complicate the proliferation of monoclonal CD5 + B cells like CLL are very few. But from many facts that indicate the relation between CD5 + B cell or its proliferation and the production of autoantibodies or autoimmune diseases, we consider this case worth to be reported.