Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus Syndrome

To the Editor.— Much has been published recently in the dermatologic literature concerning the neonatal lupus erythematosus syndrome (NLE). We believe that the study of this fascinating syndrome will advance our understanding not only of NLE, but of the pathogenesis of connective tissue disease in general, particularly regarding its expression in the skin. Significant contributions to this end have been made by Provost's group at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institution, Baltimore, and Weston and Lee, Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver. We were, therefore, very interested to read the article by Watson et al 1 entitled "Thrombocytopenia in the Neonatal Lupus Syndrome." We anticipated well-documented reports of cases describing another manifestation of this syndrome that would, perhaps, shed new light on its pathogenesis. We were disappointed to discover that this was not the case. The authors claim to report the cases of two infants having NLE