A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial Examining the Effects of Green Tea Extract on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity and Quality of Life.

Antiinflammatory and immunomodulatory benefit of green tea (Camellia sinensis) in autoimmune disease has been proven in recent studies. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of green tea on disease activity and quality of life in systemic lupus erythematosus patients. A randomized controlled trial on subjects with lupus was conducted, and 68 patients in the age range of 39.1 ± 10.3 years and body mass index of 25.7 ± 5.21 kg/m2 completed the 12-week study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of intervention (1000 mg green tea extract, two capsules/day) and control (1000 mg of starch, two capsules/day). Main outcome measure, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity, was assessed by the systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index at the first and after 3 months of intervention. In addition, patient's quality of life was evaluated by short form of quality-of-life questionnaire at baseline and after 3 months. Green tea extract supplementation significantly reduced disease activity in lupus patients (p < 0.004); in addition, it significantly increased the vitality (p < 0.006) and general health (p < 0.01). This study showed that daily consumption of green tea extracts for 12 weeks improves the systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity as well as some aspects of quality of life. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Systemic lupus erythematosus and hyper-eosinophilic syndrome: an unusual association.

A 34-year old woman with dizziness, headache and both upper and lower extremities weakness was admitted to hospital. She had a history of photosensitivity but no asthma or allergy. On physical examination, malar rash and livedo reticularis were noted. White blood cell count was 18500/microL with 7585 eosinophils (41%). She also had positive antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-double stranded DNA antibody (anti-ds-DNA antibody) and anticardiolipin antibody (aCL antibody). Echocardiography revealed left and right ventricular obliteration with fibromatous biventricular endothelial thickening. Brain MRI showed changes in favour of white matter ischaemia and lacunar infarction. Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) and systemic lupus erythematosus may be considered to have occurred concurrently in this patient.

Urinary monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and transforming growth factor-ß in systemic lupus erythematosus.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the correlation of two biomarkers with the occurrence of renal flares in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Urine levels of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-ß) were measured at baseline, and at two and four months in five groups of patients: 25 lupus nephritis patients with active disease (active LN), 10 lupus nephritis patients with SLE in remission (remission LN), 25 patients with clinical active SLE and without nephritis (active NLN), 10 patients without nephritis with SLE in remission (remission NLN) and 10 healthy controls. We used repeated measurement and ANOVA with Duncan's post hoc to analyze the data; the urine level of the two proteins could distinguish the groups based on the existence of lupus nephritis and/or activity of SLE disease. Furthermore we performed receiver operating curve analysis to identify a cutoff point with a good sensitivity and specificity to diagnose lupus nephritis with either one of the urine proteins. Finally the samples from active LN were grouped according to whether they were Class IV or other classes. Baseline urinary MCP-1, but not TGF-ß, was significantly different between the classes. Further investigation into the use of these cytokines in a prospective study is needed to determine their capacity as diagnostic tools for renal flares.

CSF levels of cytokines in neuro-Behçet's disease.

BACKGROUND: Neurological manifestations of Behçet's disease (neuro-Behçet's disease) present in 5-30% of patients. Although cytokines play a pivotal role in pathogenesis of Behçet's disease, published studies about the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of cytokines in neuro-Behçet's disease are scanty. METHODS: Nine patients with active parenchymal, one patient with non-parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease, six patients with headache attributed to Behçet's disease, 13 patients with viral meningitis, and 19 healthy controls were recruited. Interleukin 6, 8, 10, tumor necrotic factor-alpha, and interferon-gamma were measured in the CSF using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. RESULTS: Patients with viral meningitis had significantly higher levels of all investigated cytokines except for interferon-gamma in comparison with the patients with parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease, headache attributed to Behçet's disease and controls (P values <0.05). CSF interleukin 6 was significantly higher in patients with parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease in comparison with the controls (P=0.025). CSF levels of investigated cytokines had no significant difference between patients with headache attributed to Behçet's disease and controls (P values >0.05). Patients with headache attributed to BD and patients with parenchymal NBD had no significant difference in measured cytokines (P values >0.05). CONCLUSION: In contrast to some previous studies, our investigation showed loss of analogy between CSF cytokine profiles of patients with parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease and viral meningitis. Also we postulated a crucial role for interleukin 6 in immunopathogenesis of neuro-Behçet's disease.

Systemic lupus erythematosus and hyper-eosinophilic syndrome: an unusual association / El lupus eritematoso sistémico y el síndrome hipereosinofílico: una asociación poco usual

A 34-year old woman with dizziness, headache and both upper and lower extremities weakness was admitted to hospital. She had a history of photosensitivity but no asthma or allergy. On physical examination, malar rash and livedo reticularis were noted. White blood cell count was 18500/µL with 7585 eosinophils (41%). She also had positive antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-double stranded DNA antibody (anti-ds-DNA antibody) and anticardiolipin antibody (aCL antibody). Echocardiography revealed left and right ventricular obliteration with fibromatous biventricular endothelial thickening. Brain MRI showed changes in favour of white matter ischaemia and lacunar infarction. Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) and systemic lupus erythematosus may be considered to have occurred concurrently in this patient.

Una mujer de 34 años de edad con mareos, dolor de cabeza y debilidad en las extremidades superiores e inferiores, fue ingresada a nuestro hospital. La mujer tenía una historia de fotosensibilidad pero no de asma ni alergia. En el examen físico, se observó erupción malar y livedo reticularis. El conteo de glóbulos blancos fue 18500/µL con 7585 eosinófilos (41%). También tenía anticuerpos antinucleares (ANA) positivos, anticuerpos anti-DNA de hebra doble (Anticuerpos anti-dsADN), y anticuerpos anticardiopilina (anticuerpos aCL). La ecocardiografía reveló obliteración ventricular izquierda y derecha con engrosamiento endotelial fibromatoso biventricular. La resonancia magnética (MRI) del cerebro mostró cambios a favor de la isquemia de la materia blanca y el infarto lacunar. Puede considerarse que el síndrome hipereosinofílico (SHE) y el lupus eritematoso sistémico tuvieron lugar de modo concurrente en este paciente.