The Leiden mutation of coagulation factor V in Hungarian SLE patients

We studied the prevalence and the effect of coagulation factor V Leiden mutation on the occurrence of thrombotic episodes in 120 Hungarian patients having systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with or without antiphospholipid antibody. The frequency of the factor V Leiden mutation in Hungarian SLE patients was 13%, which is comparable with those found previously in a healthy Caucasian population. The incidence of venous thrombosis among factor V Leiden carriers has been found to be higher (odds ratio [OR] 1.7) than it is in patients without Leiden mutation (38% vs 29%). In addition, the frequency of venous thrombosis in the heterozygous SLE patients (OR 8.4 [confidence interval (CI) 0.8-83.9] P = 0.06) is dependent on the coexistence of other risk factors, such as antiphospholipid antibody. Moreover, among heterozygous factor V SLE patients, the Leiden mutation could explain the tendency to have significantly higher prevalence of fetal losses (OR 3.9 [CI 1.2-12.0] P = 0.02) and higher prevalence of cerebrovascular lesions, cardiac valvular abnormalities, and Raynaud's syndrome than that found in individuals without factor V Leiden mutation of those having antiphospholipid antibody. Systemic lupus erythematosus patients with combined defects suffer more severely from thrombosis than those with a single risk factor do, suggesting that thrombophilia is a multifactorial disorder in SLE, also. Although, the factor V Leiden mutation does not seem to be a significant risk factor for venous thrombosis in SLE, these data demonstrate that Leiden mutation can be regarded as an additive thrombogenic factor providing higher predisposition to several vasoocclusive disorders in SLE.