Simultaneous use of multiple serologic tests in assessing clinical activity in systemic lupus erythematosus

Ten technics for quantifying and qualifying anti-DNA antibodies were correlated with manifestations of disease activity in sera from 27 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using both a simple and a stepwise regression. In the stepwise analysis, a panel consisting of four of these tests provided maximal correlation (r = 0.68) with clinical status. Low IgM anti-DNA was a significant correlate of nephritis in stepwise discriminant function analysis. Multivariate analysis can offer distinct advantages over simple correlation in understanding the role of serological abnormalities in disease expression in SLE.