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Neonatal lupus erythematosus: factors which may lead to clinical disease in the foetus even in the absence of disease in the mother
Author(s) -
Kim J.,
Smith K. J.,
Skelton H.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
clinical and experimental dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1365-2230
pISSN - 0307-6938
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2230.2001.00851.x
Subject(s) - medicine , disease , immunology , fetus , antibody , autoantibody , autoimmune disease , human leukocyte antigen , pregnancy , lupus erythematosus , antigen , biology , genetics
Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) occurs in neonates of mothers who, in almost all cases, have auto‐antibodies to the SSA/Ro associated proteins, but who may have no clinical disease. However, only a small percentage of mothers with SSA/Ro antibodies have affected babies, predisposing factors specific to the foetus or neonate (i.e. HLA pattern) and/or fetal maternal interactions have been proposed to be important. We present a mother with a family history of autoimmune disease, but without clinical disease, whose baby developed cutaneous NLE. Autoantibody determinations as well as the HLA‐DR/DQ were performed in the mother and baby. Factors other than the HLA‐DR/DQ status of the mother appear to be important in determining whether or not the neonate will develop NLE. Auto‐antibodies to endogenous antigens common to the mother, transiently expressed developmental antigens, and the isotype specificity of transferred antibodies may be important in determining disease in the baby.