Abstract:

Objective To assess the relationship of blood lipid profile to disease activity and clinical manifestations of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus （SLE）. Methods Fasting blood samples taken from 96 patients with SLE and 50 healthy human controls were subjected to the measurement of total cholesterol （TC）, triglyceride （TG）, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol （HDL-C） and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol （LDL-C）. The relationship of blood lipid profile to disease activity and clinical manifestations was assessed. Results The serum level of triglyceride was significantly increased together with a decrease in the level of HDL-C in patients with SLE compared with the normal controls. In patients with SLE, dyslipidemia was associated with an increase in the incidence of nephritis and nephrotic syndrome as well as positivity rates of anti-dsDNA antibodies, anti-RNP antibodies, anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies and perinuclear anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies （p-ANCA）, and with a reduction in the levels of complement C3 and C4. The serum level of HDL-C was elevated in patients with stable SLE in comparison with those with inactive SLE （1.07 ± 0.24 mmol/L vs 0.95 ± 0.33 mmol/L, t = 2.22, P < 0.05）. Conclusions These findings suggest that untreated patients with SLE have an abnormal blood lipid profile, which is mainly characterized by elevated level of triglyceride and reduced level of HDL-C. Furthermore, the dyslipidemia is associated mainly with renal damage, and somewhat with disease activity of SLE．

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic, dyslipidemia, Antibodies, antinuclear, Complement