Absence of retroviral antibodies in the sera of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Retroviruses have been postulated as environmental triggers in the aetiopathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus. Sera from 100 lupus patients were screened for the presence of antibodies against recombinant HIV-1 core and envelope, and HIV-2 envelope antigens by an enzyme immunoassay. This will detect antibodies resulting from direct HIV-1 or HIV-2 infections or those generated as a result of antigenic similarities by other human retroviruses. The sera were obtained from 11 male and 89 female lupus patients. Retroviral antibodies were not detected in the sera of these lupus patients, thus contradicting published findings that up to 30% of lupus patients have antibodies against the p24 gag protein of HIV-1.