Abstract: Objective To explore oxidative/anti-oxidative status,and its relation to disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).Methods A case-control study was performed.Blood was collected from 58 SLE patients and 52 healthy control subjects Oxidative/anti-oxidative parameters,including malonyldialdehyde(MDA),superoxide dismutase(SOD)and total antioxidant capacity(TAOC)were measured by spectrophotometry.The levels of anti-double-stranded DNA(anti-dsDNA)and antinuclear antibody(ANA)were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).The difference in oxida-tive/anti-oxidative parameters between patients and control subjects was tested using independent samples t test,and the correlation between these parameters and SLE disease activity index(SLEDAI),as well as between serum levels of anti-dsDNA and ANA were tested using Pearson correlation analysis.Results Compared with the control subjects,patients with SLE exhibited elevated levels of MDA(4.88±3.28 versus 2.96±1.90 nmol/ml,t=4.70,P<0.01),TAOC(14.06±5.65 versus 10.78±2.75 U/mL,t=3.59,P<0.001),decreased level of T-SOD(57.19±19.40 versus 76.76±14.33 U/mL,t=-5.70,P<0.001).In patients with SLE,the level of ANA positively correlated with that of anti-dsDNA(r=0.800,P<0.01), TAOC(r=0.30,P<0.05),and SLEDAI(r=0.38,P<0.05).Also,TAOC was positively correlated with the level of anti-dsDNA(r=0.31,P<0.05)and MDA(r=0.22,P<0.05).Conclusions SLE patients exhibit elevated levels of multiple oxidantive markers,and these markers positively correlate with disease activity,which may suggest that protein oxidation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of SLE.

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic, Malondialdehyde, Superoxide dismutase