Avidity of antibodies in sle

Abstract

The avidity of antibodies to DNA in the sera of 8 patients with SLE was determined by saturation analysis and Scatchard plots. Five of the patients had severe lupus nephritis; the other 3 had relatively mild or no kidney disease. The Scatchard plots revealed components with high relative avidity in the patients with severe nephritis (K values 4.4–10.4 x 10⁵ M⁻¹ for nDNA), compared with the patients who had mild or no kidney disease (K values 0.3–1.8 x 10⁵ M⁻¹ for nDNA). Avidity measurements may be helpful in the evaluation and treatment of patients with SLE.