[The levels of circulating immune complexes and immunoglobulins in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis].

UNLABELLED

The authors studied the levels of large- and medium molecular circulating immune complexes (CIC) and immunoglobulins of main classes (Ig) in 17 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 47 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

RESULTS

low molecular CIC increased in 35.2% of patients with SLE and in 42.5% with RA; patients with SLE showed a significant reduction of IgA in 80.4%. The IgA/IgM ratio was significantly reduced in SLE due to the above finding. The IgA level remained unchanged in RA.