"Nitrite" and "Lupus"

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlations among plasma concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) and vascular cell adhesion molecule (sVCAM-1), and whether these three molecules are associated with renal involvement in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: Plasma NO concentrations of 73 SLE patients (35 with renal disease, RSLE patients; 38 without renal disease, SLE patients) and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were measured by the non-enzymatic Griess assay, and sTM and sVCAM-1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay...

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an immunosuppressive drug commonly used in organ transplantation, is increasingly being used to treat autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Excessive production of nitric oxide (NO) by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis. We evaluated the effect of MMF on the severity of nephritis and the production of NO in lupus-prone MRL/lpr mice. Eight-week-old female MRL/lpr mice (n = 20) were treated with MMF (100 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage for 12 weeks...

Nitric oxide (NO) generated by the reduction of sodium nitrite with sodium dithionite caused damage to plasmid Bluescript DNA leading to strand breaks and base modifications. The NO-plasmid DNA was highly immunogenic in rabbits. The antibody activity was inhibited to the extent of 86% with the immunogen as inhibitor, indicating the induction of immunogen specific antibodies. However, delineating the antigenic specificity of anti-NO-plasmid DNA antibodies by competition ELISA, multiple cross-reactivity was observed...

Overexpression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of lupus glomerulonephritis. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), a novel immunosuppressive agent, is currently used in organ transplantation and under evaluation for treatment of autoimmune disorders. Mycophenolic acid, the active metabolite of MMF, has been shown to suppress cytokine-induced nitric oxide production in vitro. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of MMF on the expression of renal cortical iNOS mRNA and protection against glomerulonephritis in MRL/lpr mice...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate systemic and intrathecal production of proinflammatory cytokines in relation to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) nitric oxide (NO) release in patients with neuropsychiatric lupus erythematosus (NPLE). METHODS: Thirty patients with NPLE rated as mild, moderate, or severe were studied and CSF was obtained from 21 of these. Cytokine mRNA expressing cells were detected by in situ hybridisation. Soluble cytokines were assessed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)...

Nitric oxide (NO) production is elevated in patients with inflammatory disorders. We have previously shown increased NO production in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. In this study we used nitrite and citrulline levels as surrogate markers of NO production in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and measured their levels by spectrophotometry. Fifteen patients and 15 age- and sex-matched controls were studied. Mean nitrite levels in patients were 582.3+/-208.3 nmol/ml, but those in controls were significantly lower, at 203...

Nitric oxide (NO) production is increased in several inflammatory disorders. We have previously demonstrated higher levels of NO production among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. In this study we measured serum levels of nitrite and citrulline using calorimetric methods as surrogate markers of NO production among patients with inflammatory myositis (IM). Twenty patients with IM and 19 age- and sex-matched controls were studied. Serum nitrite levels were significantly higher among patients than among controls (986...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototypical autoimmune disease. Overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in its pathogenesis. Several retrospective studies have indicated a correlation between serum nitrate and nitrite (NOx) and disease activity. This measure of NO production can be falsely elevated by exogenous dietary and medication sources of NOx and variably reduced by serum thiols. These variables can make NOx a less reliable tool for studying the role of NO in SLE. Peroxynitrite, a by-product of NO and superoxide, nitrates tyrosine moieties...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether serum measures of nitric oxide production correlate with disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: We assayed the levels of serum nitrate/nitrite from 26 patients with SLE followed for 1-3 years and nitrotyrosine levels in sera from 28 additional patients with SLE; sera from 19 controls were tested in both assays. Lupus disease activity was determined via the physician's global assessment, the Lupus Activity Index, and the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) at the time of serum collection for the initial set of 26 patients...

Nitric oxide (NO) is believed to have a role in the inflammatory process. NO production was measured in 26 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 20 healthy volunteers, using spectrophotometrically determined serum nitrite and citrulline as surrogate markers. Both nitrite and citrulline levels were significantly higher in patients with SLE than in controls (P < 0.001). Twelve and 10 patients, respectively, with SLE had nitrite and citrulline levels that were two standard deviations higher than the mean level of controls...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an inflammatory disease in which up to two thirds of the patients present neurological symptoms. The diagnosis of the disease is based on clinical findings and the presence of autoantibodies, and the pathogenesis is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine if the pathogenesis was partly mediated via nitric oxide (NO) formation. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 15 patients with cerebral SLE were analyzed for the NO metabolites nitrite and nitrate using capillary electrophoresis...

Over-expression of iNOS is implicated in the pathogenesis of glomerulonephritis in animal models of systemic lupus erythematosus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of aminoguanidine, a selective inhibitor of iNOS, for the protection from glomerulosclerosis in NZB/W F1 mice. Female NZB/W F1 mice (n = 8) were treated with aminoguanidine (1 g/l) in drinking water for 4 months starting at age 2 months before the onset of glomerulonephritis. Controls were age- and sex-matched mice (n = 10) without aminoguanidine treatment...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is accompanied by increased serum nitrite levels, whether active compared with inactive disease is associated with greater nitric oxide (NO) production, and whether endothelial cells or keratinocytes serve as cellular sources of NO by virtue of their increased expression of either constitutive nitric oxide synthase (cNOS) or inducible NOS (iNOS). METHODS: Fifty-one serum samples (46 from patients with SLE) were analyzed for NO production by measuring nitrite levels in a calorimetric assay...

MRL/MP-lpr/lpr (MRL/lpr) mice develop a spontaneous autoimmune disease. Serum from these mice contained significantly higher concentrations of nitrite/nitrate than serum from age-matched control MRL/MP-+/+ (MRL/+), BALB/c or CBA/6J mice. Spleen and peritoneal cells from MRL/lpr mice also produced significantly more nitric oxide (NO) than those from the control mice when cultured with interferon (IFN) gamma and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro. It is interesting to note that peritoneal cells from MRL/lpr mice also produced markedly higher concentrations of interleukin (IL) 12 than those from MRL/+ or BALB/c mice when cultured with same stimuli...

Preautoimmune New Zealand Black/White (NZB/NZW) mice immunized with Escherichia coli (EC) double standard (ds) DNA produce antibodies that bind mammalian dsDNA and display specificities similar to spontaneous lupus anti-DNA. Since calf thymus (CT) dsDNA fails to induce these antibodies, these results suggest a special potency of foreign DNA in inducing serological manifestations of lupus in a susceptible host. To assess the effects of DNA immunization on clinical manifestations in NZB/NZW mice, we measured renal disease and survival of mice immunized with either (a) EC dsDNA as complexes with methylated bovine serum albumin (mBSA) in adjuvant; (b) CT dsDNA with mBSA in adjuvant; (c)mBSA alone in adjuvant; or (d) unimmunized...

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The study comprised 14 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 12 patients with diffuse scleroderma. Echocardiography ascertained 5 cases of congestive and 1 case of restrictive cardiomyopathy among the patients with SLE, as well as 6 cases with restrictive cardiomyopathy among those with scleroderma. The authors specify two important echocardiographic variables: the E-septum distance and the septal and wall motion after amyl-nitrite test, which reveal the intrinsic contractile properties of the myocardium, allowing an early diagnosis of myocardial impairment, as well as the selection of patients for an efficient treatment with vasodilator drugs...