Evolving phenotype of systemic lupus erythematosus patients and it's correlation with antibody against c1q

Backgrounds: Autoantibodies against C1q are strongly linked to immune-complex disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Although anti-C1q antibodies have received much interest in the recent years, their biological functions remain unclear. Aim and objectives: The main aim of this study was to analyze the phenotype of systemic lupus erythematosus at first presentation and during follow-up at Qena university hospital. Subjects and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Qena university hospital. The study was conducted on 100 systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Results: Regarding the relation between lupus activity and anti-C1q antibody we found that there were highly statistically significant differences between lupus activity groups according to anti-C1q antibody. We also found that there were highly statistically significant differences between lupus activity groups according to anti-C1q with highly increasing in anti-C1q in patients with lupus activity when comparing with patients without lupus activity. Conclusion: Anti-C1q antibodies were strongly associated with lupus disease activity in SLE patients, suggesting that it may be a reliable, sensitive and non-invasive serological marker for identification of SLE patients with active SLE disease