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Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Induced by Procaine Amide
Author(s) -
Whittingham Senga,
Mackay I. R.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
australasian annals of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0571-9283
DOI - 10.1111/imj.1970.19.4.358
Subject(s) - medicine , prednisolone , immunology , systemic lupus erythematosus , immune complex , immune system , rheumatoid arthritis , anti nuclear antibody , lupus nephritis , lupus erythematosus , antibody , disease , autoantibody
Summary A disease resembling spontaneous systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis occurred in a 65‐year‐old man with cardiac arrhythmia given procaine amide. The features included arthralgia, fever, a rheumatoid nodule, glomerulonephritis with deposits of immune complexes in the kidney and high titres of antinuclear antibody. Prednisolone induced a remission but a subsequent pulmonary embolus was fatal. It is not known how auto‐immune disease is induced by drugs, particularly procaine amide, nor why man is susceptible whereas laboratory animals are not. A better understanding of SLE induced by procaine amide and certain other drugs could clarify causal mechanisms of auto‐immune disease in general.