Detection of anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in sera of Iraqi systemic lupus erythematosus women patients

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a type of autoimmune disorder, caused by autoantibodies before clinical manifestations appeared. The etiology of disease is not well-defined, although infectious agents that are involved in inducing SLE in genetically predisposed individuals have been suggested. Accordingly, the present study aimed to determine anti-cytomegalovirus ( CMV )antibodies( IgG and IgM )in two groups of SLE women patients. The first included patients with renal complications (nephritis), while the second group involved patients that have arthritis. With respect to nephritis patients, 18.8% and 21.9% were positive for anti-CMV IgG and IgM antibodies, respectively; while they were not detected in controls. Such differences were significant (P = 0.02 and 0.01), respectively and associated with odd ratio (OR) of 15.9 and 19.1, respectively. Such profile was almost similarly observed in arthritis SLE patients, with the exception that a lower OR values were recorded (1731 and 10.3, respectively) 3These results may suggest that CMV is one of the etiological factors that are involved in pathogenesis of disease3