This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lu, J J-Y Articles by Lin, S-H Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lu, J J-Y Articles by Lin, S-H Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Association of Epstein-Barr virus infection with systemic lupus erythematosus in Taiwan

National Taichung Nursing College, Taichung, Taiwan; Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

D-Y Chen

Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; National Yang-Ming University, Taipei and National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan

C-W Hsieh

Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

J-L Lan

National Yang-Ming University, Taipei and National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veteran General Hospital, 160 Taichung-Harbor Road, Section 3, Taichung 407, Taiwan, ROC; jllan{at}vghtc.gov.tw

F-J Lin

Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; National Yang-Ming University, Taipei and National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan

S-H Lin

Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

An association between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been suggested from previous serologic evidence. Since most adults in Taiwan are EBV-infected, seroepidemiologic studies based on standard assays for EBV are unlikely to dissociate SLE patients and control groups. We reexamine this question by using novel methodologies in which IgA anti-EBV-coded nuclear antigens-1 (EBNA-1) and IgG anti-EBV DNase antibodies were analysed by ELISA, and EBV viral loads were detected by real-time quantitative PCR for 93 adult SLE patients and 370 age-, sex- and living place-matched healthy controls in Taiwan. The specificities of antibodies for extractible nuclear antigens were determined by Western blot. Our results show that IgA anti-EBV EBNA1 antibodies were detectable in 31.2% SLE patients but only in 4.1% of controls (odds ratio [OR] = 10.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 5.19–22.35; P < 10^-7), IgG anti-EBV DNase antibodies were detected in 53.8% SLE patients but only in 12.2% controls (OR = 8.40, 95% CI = 4.87–14.51; P < 10^-7). EBV DNA was amplifiable from the sera of 41.9% SLE patients but from only 3.24% controls (P < 0.05). A significant association of IgG anti-EBV DNase antibodies with anti-Sm/RNP antibodies was observed (P < 0.005). The higher seroreactivity and higher copy numbers of EBV genome indicated association of EBV infection with SLE in Taiwan.

Key Words: EBV loads • EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) • Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) • real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) • systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?