[Is the Raji cell test suitable as a marker of systemic lupus erythematosus activity? A case report]

To determine the clinical significance of the Raji cell radioimmunoassay as a laboratory marker of activity, four patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were followed for a period of 30 to 90 months. These sequential analyses did not show a correlation between circulating immune complexes, determined by Raji cell radioimmunoassay, and signs and symptoms in these lupus patients over a period of several years. We believe that the Raji cell test offers no advantage over other well known immunologic parameters used in SLE (antibodies to native DNA, complement factors C3 and C4 or CH50). In the management of SLE patients, laboratory data should not serve as a key by which to adjust treatment with prednisone or immunosuppressive drugs; clinical data are of outstanding importance in this respect.