Anti-corpus luteum antibody and menstrual irregularity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

The aim of the present study was to verify the presence of anti-corpus luteum antibodies (anti-CoL) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) patients, as well as establish its possible correlation with menstrual and/or hormonal disturbances in both populations and with SLE activity. Forty-six patients with SLE, 31 with HT, four with both SLE and HT, and 36 healthy women were studied. Out of these, seven (15.2%) patients with SLE, three (9.7%) with HT, three (75%) with both pathologies, and none of the healthy controls tested positive for anti-CoL. The presence of anti-CoL was not significantly correlated to menstrual disturbance (P = 0.083), changes in the level of follicle stimulating hormone (P = 1.0), luteinizing hormone (P = 0.284), estradiol (P = 0.316), prolactin (P = 1.0) or SLE activity measured by SLEDAI (P = 0.756) in SLE patients. There were not enough patients testing positive for anti-luteal antibodies among those with HT or both HT and SLE (three from each group) for a statistical analysis. In conclusion, we found no association between anti-CoL and menstrual or hormonal disturbance in patients with SLE. Also anti-CoL was not specific for SLE, and was not found to be a marker of ovarian failure in SLE.