Molecular heterogeneity of prolactin in the plasma of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

✍ Scribed by Javier Cruz; Antonio Aviña-Zubieta; Gonzalo Martínez De La Escalera; Carmen Clapp; Carlos Lavalle

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 206 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/1529-0131(200106)44:6<1331::aid-art225>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

Objective. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been associated with high levels of prolactin in the circulation of some patients. Although prolactin stimulates immune responses, the relationship between hyperprolactinemia and the pathophysiology of SLE remains controversial. This study was undertaken to investigate whether circulating bioactive prolactin isoforms are associated with the activity of SLE.

Methods. The molecular heterogeneity of prolactin was studied in the plasma of patients with active and inactive SLE and in healthy volunteers by radioimmunoassay (RIA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Nb2-cell bioassay, and immunoprecipitation-Western blots. The specificity of the bioassay determinations was assessed by neutralization of growthpromoting effects with antiserum to human prolactin.

Results. Significantly higher prolactin levels were detected by bioassay and by ELISA than by RIA in both subsets of SLE patients and in normal individuals. Plasma prolactin levels in the SLE patients were significantly greater than those in the normal controls when measured by ELISA, but not by RIA or bioassay. The bioassay:ELISA and bioassay:RIA ratios were similar