Evaluation of amino acid L–canavanine in the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. A clue to the pathogenesis of disease

Eliseo Ruiz Bedolla; Briceida Lopez Martinez; Israel Parra Ortega

Volume : VIII, Issue : VI, June - 2018

Evaluation of amino acid L–canavanine in the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. A clue to the pathogenesis of disease

Eliseo Ruiz Bedolla, Briceida Lopez Martinez, Israel Parra Ortega

Abstract :

Objective.– The aim of this study was to observe if there is any relation between serum canavanine levels and antinuclear antibody ( ANA ) titers in samples from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus ( SLE ).

Material and methods.– We analyzed 128 blood samples from patients with SLE and 128 samples from healthy subjects for ANA by indirect immunofluorescence and serum canavanine with the Rosenthal technic.

Results.– The levels of serum canavanine in healthy subjects were 1.8 to 3.8 mg/dl with a mean of 3.1 and the ANA titers were 0 to 1:128 and in patients with SLE values of canavanine were 3.8 to 16 mg/dl with a mean of 7.1 and p<0.01 with ANA titers from 1:128 to 1:280. The sensitivity of the canavanine test is 96% and 93% specificity. It was observedthat as the values of canavanine increase, the ANA titers increase as well.

Conclusions.– With the obtained values it is concluded that evaluation of serum canavanine can be useful as a support for the diagnosis of SLE and can be used as a screening test