British Journal of Rheumatology 1993;32:329-332 CLINICAL REVIEW AUTOANTIBODIES IN CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM LUPUS

Central nervous system (CNS) involvement in patients with lupus remains both a diagnostic and a therapeutic challenge. The role of autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of CNS lupus and/or as markers for disease activity is reviewed. Doubt is cast on the value of measuring anti-neuronal antibodies. Those antibodies binding ribosomal-P protein antigens or certain phospholipids appear to have greater utility, although even in these cases there is no uniform agreement as to their precise role in CNS disease induction, or how well antibody levels reflect disease activity. KEY WORDS: Systemic lupus erythematosus; Neuropsychiatric; Autoantibodies. SYSTEMIC lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by an enormous range of clinical features. This diver-sity is matched serologically by a plethora of autoanti-bodies, some of which are associated with particular clinical manifestations. For example, the presence of high titres of antibodies to dsDNA usually accom-panies renal disease [1,2]; antibodies to La(SSB) are associated with mild disease which overlaps with Sjogren's syndrome [3] and anti-Ro antibodies ar