Value of Anti-nucleosome Antibody in the Diagnosis of Juvenile Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of anti-nucleosome antibodies (AnuA) in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and compare that with adult SLE.Methods We included 87 children and 122 adults with SLE.As control groups, we included 30 children and 55 adults with other connective tissue disease.ELISA was used to measure AnuA.Results Out of 87 juvenile SLE patients, 67 (77.01%) were seropositive for AnuA, which was significantly higher than that of patients with other rheumatic diseases (6.67%, P0.05).The sensitivities and specificities of AnuA for juvenile SLE diagnosis were 77.01% and 93.33% , respectively.The positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 97.10% and 58.33% , respectively.The sensitivity of AnuA in juvenile SLE was higher than that in adult SLE.The specificit in juvenile and adult SLE.The positive rate of AnuA in SLE without anti-dsDNA and anti-Sm antibodies were 56.52% and 76.71% , respectively.Conclusion The detection of AnuA is useful for diagnosis of juvenile SLE, especially in patients who are negative for anti-dsDNA antibodies and anti-Sm antibodies.