Article Osteoclast Differentiation Is Impaired in a Subgroup of SLE Patients and Correlates Inversely with Mycophenolate Mofetil Treatment

Abstract: Osteoporosis can arise in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients secondary to medication and/or chronic inflammation. To analyze if patients with SLE have phenotypically-impaired osteoclastogenesis, we differentiated ex vivo monocytes from 72 SLE patients and 15 healthy individuals into osteoclasts followed by TRAP staining and counting. We identified a subgroup of SLE patients (45%) with a significantly impaired osteoclast OPEN ACCESS Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2015, 16 18826 differentiation, relative to the other SLE patients or healthy individuals (OR 11.2; 95 % CI 1.4–89.9). A review of medication indicated that patients with osteoclast counts equal t