Ninety-three serum and plasma samples from 45 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were analyzed for the complex formed by Cls and its inhibitor, as well as for C3, C4, C4a desarginine, and staphylococcal protein A-bound immune complexes. There were statistically significant correlations between Cls-C1 inhibitor complex and CH50, between Cls-C1 inhibitor complex and C4, and between Cls-C1 inhibitor complex and C4a desarginine. Serial studies were performed on 24 patients over a period of 6 months. Seven of 21 patients with hypocomplementemia had persistently normal levels of Cls-C1 inhibitor complex, 7 had transiently abnormal levels of Cls-C1 inhibitor complex, and 7 had sustained abnormal levels of Cls-C 1 inhibitor complex. Two of 3 pregnant patients with normal levels of complement had abnormal levels of Cls-Cl inhibitor complex. Staphylococcal protein A-bound immune complexes demonstrated no correlation with any of the complement assays. Complement activation, as measured by Cls-C1 inhibitor complex, is often a transient phenomenon in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with persistent hypocomplementemia. (SLE) is the assumption that serum complement, measured as CH50, C3, or C4, reflects the rate of in vivo complement activation (1-6). Testing of this hypothesis is cumbersome, however (7,s); it requires the administration, to patients, of radiolabeled complement components.Several assays for products of complement activation are now available. These assays measure the complex formed by Cls and the C1 inhibitor (9-12), C3d (13-15), C4d (16), C5a (17,18), membrane attack complex (19), and other products (20,21). Studies relevant to SLE have, in general, concluded that these assays correlate well with the clinically used measures of complement, CH50, C3, and C4.In contrast, in a previous study of pregnant SLE patients, we noted that Cls-C1 inhibitor complex did not reflect clinically measured hypocomplementemia (22). The serum specimens analyzed in our prior report were obtained from single patients at single points in time. These observations now are extended by findings on a new group of 45 SLE patients (27 nonpregnant, 18 pregnant), 24 of whom we have followed serially. In these patients, we compared levels of CIS-C1 inhibitor complex with levels of CH50, C3, C4, C4a desarginine, and staphylococcal protein A-bound immune complexes. Our results indicate that the levels of Cls-C1 inhibitor complex are frequently either normal or are only transiently abnormal when levels of CH50, C3, and C4 are persistently abnormal, which suggests that activation of the classical complement pathway occurs sporadically in patients with sustained hypocomplementemia. In addition, measurements of C4a desarginine and staphylococcal protein A binding correlate poorly with other complement measures.