Studies of repeat skin biopsies of nonlesional skin in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

✍ Scribed by Naomi Rothfield; Cathy Marino

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 588 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780250604

✦ Synopsis

Thirty-one patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were studied by repeat biopsies of nonlesional skin to determine whether there was a relationship between disease activity (clinical and serologic) and the presence and number of immunoglobulins and complement proteins present in the dermal-epidermal junction. The data revealed significantly fewer deposits in the skin in patients without disease activity than in the patients studied during disease activity.

Immunoglobulins and complement proteins may be demonstrated in the dermal-epidermal junction of lesional and nonlesional skin in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. We and others have previously shown that the nonlesional skin from such patients with signs and symptoms of active disease is more likely to contain immunoglobulins and complement proteins than is the skin from patients in remission (1-7). However, some other researchers did not reach this conclusion (8-12). We and some investigators also noted a correlation between serologic evidence of disease activity and the dermal-epidermal