Association of cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus infection with disease activity of systemic lupus erythematosus in children
WEN Yi-ni, LIU Fan, DING Yan, YIN Wei
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Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Wuhan Children's Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430016, China
To analyze the association between cytomegalovirus (CMV) or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and disease activity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in children, a total of 78 SLE children were enrolled and divided into new-onset group (n=35) and stable group (n=43) based on disease onset time and corticoid and immunosuppressants treatments. Another 100 healthy children undergoing routine physical examination were enrolled as control group. The correlation between CMV or EBV infection and the occurrence of SLE in children was determined by Spearman correlation analysis. The results showed that the positive rates of CMV IgM or EBV DNA in SLE patients were 25.64% and 26.92%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in control group(3.00% and 12.00%,respectively, P<0.05). Spearman analysis revealed the significant positive correlation of CMV IgM or EBV DNA with SLE occurrence (r=0.375 and 0.241, respectively, P<0.05). The positive rate of CMV IgM in stable group was 34.88%, significantly higher than 14.29% in new-onset group (P=0.038). In addition, compared to CMV IgM (-) group, CMV IgM (+) group showed higher positive rate of anti-ribosomal P protein (Rib-P) antibody (60.00% vs 25.86%, P=0.006), positive rate of direct Coombs test (70.00% vs 36.21%, P=0.009), levels of anti-beta 2 glycoprotein 1 (β2GP1) antibody, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) (P<0.05). In contrast, the level of complement component 3 (C3) in CMV IgM (+) group was lower than that in CMV IgM (-) group (P<0.05). The EBV DNA (+) group had higher percentage of CD19+ and CD23+/CD19+ cells, ESR and SLEDAI (P<0.05) but lower C3 level (P<0.05) compared to EBV DNA (-) group. Altogether, the study indicates that CMV and EBV infection are closely associated with the occurrence and disease activity of SLE in children.
WEN Yi-ni, LIU Fan, DING Yan, et al.
Association of cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus infection with disease activity of systemic lupus erythematosus in children. Current Immunology. 2022, 42(3): 213-217