Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for antibodies to poly(A), poly dAT and histones: possibly useful tools for the evaluation of prognosis and disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus.

In a prospective study 222 sera from 56 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were tested for antibodies to poly(A), poly dAT and histones using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Patients with active disease had significantly more often antibodies to poly(A), poly dAT and histones than patients with inactive disease. There was a positive correlation between the activity score of the disease and the levels of poly(A)-antibodies of IgG and IgM class, poly dAT-antibodies and antibodies to histones. Patients with SLE-nephritis had a higher level of poly dAT and IgG class poly(A) antibodies than patients without nephritis. Interestingly, patients with an SLE-nephritis had lower levels of IgM-poly(A)-antibodies than those without nephritis. Attempts to use the ELISAs in predicting the SLE exacerbations were unsuccessful. However, the assays can be used as parameters in the estimation of the disease activity.