Antiribosomal P protien antibodies in different populations of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

We report a significantly increased prevalence of antribosomal P protein antibodies in Malaysian Chinese patients (38 percent) with SLE compared to white caucasian (13 percent) and Afro-Caribbean (20 percent) patients. The increase prevalence was not due to a generalized increase in autoantibody production because anti-dsDNA and anti-SSA antibodies were present in comparable frequencies in the three ethnic groups while anti-Sm and anti-SSB antibodies were rarely found in the Malaysian Chinese patients (AU)