Antibodies elicited by pneumococcal antigens bear an anti-DNA--associated idiotype.

There is evidence in both murine and human lupus that the production of anti-DNA antibodies may be triggered by environmental antigens. To explore this further, we studied the serum of 10 nonautoimmune individuals immunized with a polyvalent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. All 10 patients showed a rise in the titer of antipneumococcal antibodies bearing an anti-DNA-associated idiotype.

Effect of long-term normalization of serum complement levels on the course of lupus nephritis.

Purpose: We compared the long-term outcome of patients with lupus nephritis in whom normalization of complement levels (CH50) was sustained by adjustment of immunosuppressive therapy to those patients with persistently low complement levels despite similar immunosuppression in whom therapy was adjusted solely on the basis of clinical disease activity.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-nine female patients with lupus nephritis recruited from 1972 to 1979 were prospectively studied (mean follow-up, 116.7 +/- 11 months).

Serial pulmonary function testing in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Previous studies have documented the pulmonary function abnormalities associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). There are very few data, however, regarding the progression of such changes. To study this question, we evaluated the pulmonary function of a group of 25 patients with SLE from two to seven years after a set of pulmonary function tests had been performed as part of their overall initial assessment.