Abstract

KOKUINA, Elena. Autoantibodies as biomarkers of disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Rev cubana med [online]. 2014, vol.53, n.2, pp. 201-223. ISSN 0034-7523.

There is an urgent need for biomarkers to identify and predict activity phases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to optimize the patients clinical management. Out of hundreds of autoantibodies present in SLE patients, very few are candidates for biomarkers of clinical disease activity and none has been established as an independent criterion for clinical decision making. Identifying relapse of SLE is more art than science. It has recently been suggested that the positive correlation between autoantibody levels and SLE activity may be subverted by the presence of protective autoantibodies opposed to tissue damage produced by pathogenic autoantibodies. The anti-nucleosome, anti-dsDNA and anti-C1q antibodies are associated with disease activity assessed by several international rating systems such as the SLEDAI, BILAG ECLAM and, partly in cross-sectional studies. These biomarkers are promising for clinical monitoring of SLE patients, but they still need the validation of multi-scale controlled studies. This review was to summarize the challenges of discovery and validation of biomarkers of autoantibodies in SLE activity within the functional complexity of the autoantibodies.

Keywords : biomarker; autoantibody; disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus; anti-nucleosome antibodies; anti-DNA.

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