CR-1 DENSITY POLYMORPHISM AND EXPRESSION ON ERYTHROCYTES OF PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS-ERYTHEMATOSUS

The present study investigated the expressed number of CR1 on erythroc ytes (E) in relationship of the CR1 density genotype from 46 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 47 healthy volunteers, The CR1 genotype was determined by a method based on polymerase chain rea ction (PCR) amplification of the genomic DNA fragment of 1.8 kb separa ted by HindIII endonuclease digestion and agarose gel electrophoresis. Our data supported the earlier results that the number of binding sit es/E for monoclonal anti-CR1 decreased among SLE patients compared wit h normal individuals having the same alleles for the CR1/E density, At the same time the novelty of our recent results was that the decrease d expression of CR1 on E correlated significantly with kidney involvem ent in patients homozygous for the CR1/E high density allele (HH), The se data suggest that the deficiency of the detectable number of CR1 on erythrocytes is acquired in this SLE population.