Increased factor VIIa levels in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with lupus anticoagulant.

Recurrent fetal loss, and/or arterio-venous thrombosis are frequent complications in patients with the antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) and/or lupus anticoagulant (LA). Furthermore, patients with LA have been found to be more susceptible to thrombosis than those with aCL, thus suggesting differences in the pathogenesis of aCL and LA. We examined the systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with aCL and/or LA for differences in the markers for hypercoagulable state, including thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2), thrombomodulin (TM) and activated factor VII (FVIIa), and lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)), which is a well-known risk factor for thrombosis. The FVIIa concentration was significantly higher in the LA-positive patients than in the aCL-positive and aPL-negative patients. No significant differences in TAT, F1 + 2, TM, and Lp(a) values were found among the aCL-positive, LA-positive and LA-negative patients groups. These findings indicate that patients with LA were in a more prethrombotic state than those with aCL. The measurement of FVIIa may serve as a useful predictive marker for thrombosis, but further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of thrombosis in this clinical setting.