Methods for diagnosing systemic lupus erythematosus
View Patent ↗The invention relates to methods and materials involved in diagnosing SLE. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and materials involved in diagnosing SLE, diagnosing severe SLE, and assessing a mammal's susceptibility to develop severe SLE. For example, the invention provides nucleic acid arrays that can be used to diagnose SLE in a mammal. Such arrays can allow clinicians to diagnose SLE based on a simultaneous determination of the expression levels of many genes that are differentially expressed in SLE patients as compared to healthy controls.
1. A method for diagnosing severe systemic lupus erythematosus in a human, said method comprising:
(a) providing a biological sample comprising peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from a human having or suspected of having systemic lupus erythematosus,
(b) measuring mRNA expression of a gene in said sample, wherein said gene is interferon, alpha-inducible protein (clone IFI-6-16), and
(c) diagnosing said human as having severe systemic lupus erythematosus if the level of said mRNA expression is greater in said sample than in a corresponding control sample, or diagnosing said human as not having severe systemic lupus erythematosus if the level of said mRNA expression is not greater in said sample than in a corresponding control sample.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said mRNA expression is measured in a blood sample from said human.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said mRNA expression is measured in PBMC from said human.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said mRNA expression is measured in monocytes from said human.
5. A method for assessing the predisposition of a human to develop severe systemic lupus erythematosus, said method comprising:
(a) providing a biological sample comprising PBMC from a human,
(b) measuring mRNA expression of a gene in said sample, wherein said gene is interferon, alpha-inducible protein (clone IFI-6-16), and
(c) classifying said human as having a predisposition to develop severe systemic lupus erythematosus if the level of said mRNA expression is at least 2-fold greater in said sample than in a corresponding control sample, or classifying said human as not having a predisposition to develop severe systemic lupus erythematosus if the level of said mRNA expression is not at least 2-fold greater in said sample than in said control sample.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said mRNA expression is measured in a blood sample from said human.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein said mRNA expression is measured in PBMC from said human.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein said mRNA expression is measured in monocytes from said human.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the level of said mRNA expression is at least 3-fold greater in said sample than in said corresponding control sample.
10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the level of said mRNA expression is at least 3-fold greater in said sample than in said corresponding control sample.