Studies on autoantibodies to poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) in SLE and other autoimmune diseases.

Sera from 41 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 87 controls with various diseases, and 30 normal subjects were examined for poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) and ds DNA binding. Elevated levels of poly (ADP-ribose) binding were found in 73% of the SLE patients compared with 58% who had raised ds DNA binding. In a further study of 160 sera from 27 patients with SLE, levels of antipoly (ADP-ribose) antibodies were shown to correlate with clinical activity better than either anti-ds DNA or ss DNA antibodies.