Antibody to poly(ADP-ribose) is an indicator of obstetric complications in pregnant patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Anti-poly(ADP-ribose) antibodies were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 6 pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 11 normal pregnant women and 6 randomly selected female SLE patients. Four pregnant SLE patients who had either an abortion after 13 weeks of gestation or a premature delivery showed very high titers of anti-poly(ADP-ribose) antibodies in week 8 of pregnancy. However, the titers of anti-poly(ADP-ribose) antibodies of all the normal pregnant women were similar to those of non-pregnant female SLE patients, being slightly higher than those of normal non-pregnant women. The isotype of anti-poly(ADP-ribose) antibodies in pregnant SLE patients was IgG, which did not crossreact with either DNA or cardiolipin. The number of pregnant SLE patients tested was small, but the coincidence of abortion with high titers of anti-poly (ADP-ribose) antibody was very close. Therefore, a high titer of anti-poly(ADP-ribose) antibody in pregnant SLE patients seems useful as an indicator of abortion or fetal distress.