[Clinico-immunological characteristics of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and cryoglobulinemia].

Sixty patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were examined: 40 patients with cryoglobulinemia and 20 patients without it. Cryoglobulinemia was observed in patients with SLE, as a rule, in the acute course of the disease ending in renal affection. Cryoglobulinemia in SLE was accompanied by the phenomenon of generalized vasculitis in the form of skin and mucosa lesions with ulcero-necrotic changes and affections of the central and peripheral nervous system and the kidneys. The clinical picture of SLE accompanied by cryoglobulinemia was characterized by a polysyndrome phenomenon and infrequent presence of the ARA criteria. Cryoglobulinemia was accompanied by high titres of anti-DNA. Thus, cryoglobulinemia can be regarded as one of the important factors of immunocomplex damage in SLE.