Autoantibodies in pet dogs owned by patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) occurs in human beings and in dogs. There is evidence to suggest that the disease is caused by a transmissible factor that may cross the species barrier. We investigated this possibility by looking for autoantibodies and serum protein abnormalities in serum samples from 15 pet dogs owned by patients with SLE and comparing results with those obtained with serum from 10 healthy dogs kept in a controlled environment and 9 dogs with autoimmune diseases. We used standard immunological assays modified for use with canine samples. Compared with the normal dogs, increased amounts of antibody to double-stranded DNA were found in serum from the SLE patients' dogs (median optical density [405 nm] = 0.117 vs 0.299; p = 0.0001), this latter amount being similar to that found in serum from the autoimmune group (0.201; p = 0.6). Abnormal serum protein electrophoresis patterns were found in samples from the autoimmune and SLE patients' dogs but not the normal dogs. These findings support the idea that exposure to common environmental factors or transmissible agents may have a role in causing SLE.