Immune function and brain abnormalities in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus without overt neuropsychiatric manifestations.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the relationship between immune, cognitive and neuroimaging assessments in subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without histories of overt neuropsychiatric (NP) disorders.

METHODS

In total, 84 subjects with nonNPSLE and 37 healthy controls completed neuropsychological testing from the American College of Rheumatology SLE battery. Serum autoantibody and cytokine measures, volumetric magnetic resonance imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy data were collected on a subset of subjects.

RESULTS

NonNPSLE subjects had lower scores on measures of visual/complex attention, visuomotor speed and verbal memory compared with controls. No clinically significant differences between nonNPSLE patients and controls were found on serum measures of lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin antibodies, beta 2-glycoproteins, or pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, interferon alpha (IFN-alpha), and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma)). Higher scores on a global cognitive impairment index and a memory impairment index were correlated with lower IFN-alpha. Few associations between immune functions and neuroimaging parameters were found.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicated that nonNPSLE patients demonstrated cognitive impairment but not immune differences compared with controls. In these subjects, who were relatively young and with mild disease, no relationship between cognitive dysfunction, immune parameters, or previously documented neuroimaging abnormalities were noted. Immune measures acquired from cerebrospinal fluid instead of serum may yield stronger associations.