Association of CXCL13 serum level and ultrasonographic findings of joints in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and Jaccoud’s arthropathy:

ObjectivesThe objective of this paper is to perform an ultrasonography (US) analysis of hands and wrists in two groups of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with and without Jaccoud’s arthropathy, matched by age and disease duration and to correlate them with levels of CXCL13 clinical features, laboratory tests and disease activity score.MethodsSixty-four patients with SLE were enrolled, 32 with and 32 without Jaccoud’s arthropathy. Each patient underwent physical examination, laboratory tests (including CXCL13 by ELISA) and bilateral US. Synovial hypertrophy, tenosynovitis and erosions were evaluated according to a semiquantitative grading system with a 0–3 rating. US findings were correlated with serum levels of CXCL13, other serological parameters and disease activity index.ResultsSynovitis was found in 25/64 patients (39%) and tenosynovitis in 14/64 (22%). These findings were more frequent in SLE patients with Jaccoud’s arthropathy, particularly tenosynovitis (p = 0.002) and synovitis (...