Anti-prolactin autoantibodies in paediatric systemic lupus erythematosus patients

• Published in: Lupus Vol. 10; no. 11; pp. 803 - 808
• Main Authors: Blanco-Favela, F, Quintal, Ma G, Chavez-Rueda, A K, Leaños-Miranda, A, Berron-Peres, R, Baca-Ruiz, V, Lavalle-Montalvo, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2001; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Antibodies; Autoantibodies - blood; Child; Disease; Female; Humans; Hyperprolactinemia - immunology; Immunology; Lupus; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - blood; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - immunology; Male; Pediatrics; prolactin; Prolactin - blood; Prolactin - immunology; Proteins; Severity of Illness Index; Mexico; disease activity; anti-prolactin autoantibody; prolactin; hyperprolactinaemia
• ISSN: 0961-2033; 1477-0962
• DOI: 10.1177/096120330101001107

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of anti-prolactin autoantibodies and the relationship among anti-prolactin autoantibodies, serum prolactin (PRL) levels and lupus activity in paediatric patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using a transversal study. One-hundred and three consecutive paediatric SLE patients were tested for serum anti-PRL autoantibodies and PRL levels. Clinical disease activity was scored using the SLEDAI index. Anti-PRL autoantibodies were measured by means of gel filtration. The frequency of anti-PRL autoantibodies was 6.7% (7=103), on the basis of the amount of immunoreactive PRL eluted in molecular weight fraction corresponding to IgG (150 kDa). No anti-PRL autoantibodies were found in normoprolactinaemic patients. By contrast, 21.8% (7=32) hyperprolactinaemic patients (hPRL) had anti-PRL autoantibodies. There was a correlation between anti-PRL autoantibody and serum levels of PRL (rs 1/4 0.98, P 1/4 0.0001). Lupus activity was present in 64=103(62.1%) patients, without a significant difference in the frequency of anti-PRL autoantibodies when compared to inactive lupus (7.8 vs5.1%, P > 0.05). Higher levels of serum PRL were associated with lupus activity regardless of other variables (39.6% vs 17.9%, P 1/4 0.05). Patients with anti-PRL autoantibodies had higher levels of serum PRL than those without anti-PRL autoantibody (41.85 vs 17.77 ng/ml, P 1/4 0.01) and significantly different frequency of hPRL (100 vs 26%, r 1/4 0.4531, P< 0.001). We have identified a subset of paediatric SLE patients with hPRL and anti-PRL autoantibodies. Anti-PRL autoantibodies were associated with hPRL state and antibody titres correlated positively with serum PRL levels. These data suggest that anti-PRL autoantibodies could be responsible for hPRL in a subset of SLE patients. An increase in serum PRL levels proved to be related to lupus activity, but there was no statistical relationship between anti-PRL autoantibodies and lupus activity.