Increased Anti-Annexin 1 Antibodies Are Likely in Discoid Lupus Erythematosus

The diagnosis of discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) is rarely in question when the clinical and histopathologic findings correlate, but diagnosis of DLE localized to the palms or soles, or sometimes to the scalp, can be problematic. A serologic test with positive predictive value would be useful in the rare instances when DLE is difficult to diagnose. Two previous studies showed the presence of anti-annexin 1 antibodies in the sera of patients with systemic LE (SLE) or rheumatoid arthritis.

Investigators attempted to correlate the presence of these antibodies with disease activity and the presence of systemic disease in 78 patients with the three subsets of cutaneous LE (CLE) — DLE, tumid lupus erythematosus (TLE), and subacute CLE (SCLE). Fi…