SummaryThe objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of a spectrum of autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus and incomplete lupus syndromes using a proteome microarray bearing 70 autoantigens. Microarrays containing candidate autoantigens or control proteins were printed on 16-section slides. These arrays were used to profile 93 serum samples from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE (n = 33), incomplete LE (ILE; n = 23), first-degree relatives (FDRs) of SLE patients (n = 20) and non-autoimmune controls (NC; n = 17). Data were analysed using the significance analysis of microarray (SAM) and clustering algorithms. Correlations with disease features were determined. Serum from ILE and SLE patients contained high levels of IgG autoantibodies to 50 autoantigens and IgM autoantibodies to 12 autoantigens. Elevated levels of at least one IgG autoantibody were detected in 26% of SLE and 19% of ILE samples; elevated IgM autoantibodies were present in 13% of SLE and 17% of ILE samples. IgG autoantibodies segregated into seven clusters including two specific for DNA and RNA autoantigens that were correlated with the number of lupus criteria. Three IgG autoantibody clusters specific for collagens, DNA and histones, were correlated with renal involvement. Of the four IgM autoantibody clusters, two were correlated negatively with the number of lupus criteria; none were correlated with renal disease. The IgG : IgM autoantibody ratios generally showed a stepwise increase in the groups following disease burden from NC to SLE. Insights derived from the expanded autoantibody profiling made possible with the antigen array suggest differences in autoreactivity in ILE and SLE. Determining whether the IgM aurotreactivity that predominates in ILE represents an early stage prior to IgG switching or is persistent and relatively protective will require further longitudinal studies.

In vitro-hatched oncospheres of Taenia solium, prepared by the sodium hypochlorite method and adjusted to approximately 5 x 10(2)/2ml phosphate buffer saline, were injected intramuscularly or intravenously into normal Balb/c mice. When these mice were sacrificed 2 months later, all cysticerci were exclusively recovered in the lungs from the mice with intravenous inoculation, but not with intramuscular injection. A high infection rate of 76% was obtained and a total of 45 cysticerci were collected from 50 mice. Thirty-five cysticerci were mature and with normal appearance but the rest were either with abnormal appearance (4) or degenerated (6). These findings give strong evidence that T. solium oncospheres may migrate to the normal mouse lung through venous circulation and develop in this organ.