Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical significance of antinucleosome antibody (AnuA) in the patients with lupus erythematosus (LE) through detecting the serum level of AnuA in different types of LE patients before and after treatment. Methods Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to detect the serum level of AnuA in 31 SLE patients, 26 SCLE patients, 7 DLE patients, 6 scleroderma patients, 5 dermatomyositis patients and 30 healthy controls. Among them, the serum levels of AnuA before and after treatment were detected in 15 SLE patients and 10 SCLE patients. Clinical data, laboratory test results and the scores of SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) were analyzed with SPSS 11.0 software. Results The serum levels of AnuA in SLE patients were higher than those in SCLE, DLE, scleroderma, dermatomyositis patients and healthy controls(P<0.01). The serum levels of AnuA in active SLE patients were higher than that in inactive SLE patients(P<0.01), with a positive correlation with SLEDAI(P<0.05,r=0.441). The serum levels of AnuA in SLE patients decreased after treatment(P<0.01). The serum levels of AnuA in SCLE, DLE and scleroderma patients were higher than those in dermatomyositis patients and healthy controls(P<0.01). Conclusions The serum level of antinucleosome antibody is high in the patients with active SLE, which may be a useful parameter for the diagnosis and the assessment of disease activity in SLE.

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, Scleroderma, Dermatomyositis, Antinucleosome antibody