Immunogenetic study of three Japanese families with neonatal lupus erythematosus

We encountered three Japanese families with neonatal lupus erythematosus. None of the three fathers showed any signs of collagen disease. The three mothers were found to suffer from Sjögren's syndrome; they all tested positive for anti-SSA and SSB antibodies and had lymphocyte infiltration into the small salivary gland. In two families, one child had neonatal lupus erythematosus while a sibling was normal; in the third family, both children had neonatal lupus erythematosus. Thus, a mother with positive anti-SSA and SSB antibodies can give birth to one infant with and one infant without or have two infants with neonatal lupus erythematosus. We conducted HLA typing of all 12 members of the three families in order to clarify the immunologic factors involved. We found no increased frequency of any HLA phenotype in the three mothers and their four children with neonatal lupus erythematosus; however, HLA-DR4 was present in three of the children with neonatal lupus erythematosus.