ANA-negative severe lupus-like presentation: Is it lupus or not?

Systemic lupus erythematosus is difficult to diagnose in patients who are antinuclear antibody (ANA) negative and lack typical clinical manifestations. For such patient who presented ANA-negative severe lupus-like manifestations, the diagnosis and treatment are a huge challenge. Histological findings may provide clues to diagnosis.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by formation of autoantibodies to nuclear and cytoplasmic antigens. It was reported that a small subset of patients had typical clinical features of SLE with consistently negative antinuclear antibody (ANA), but such disease is usually mild and rarely involves multisystem. At present, there are no reports about severe lupus with ANA continued negative. Our report describes a 34-year-old Chinese woman who presented renal failure, multiple serous cavity effusion, and epilepsy, without malar rash, photosensitivity, lymphopenia, and arthritis. Further renal biopsy pathology revealed lupus-like nephritis. Autoantibodies, including ANA, antibodies against Smith and against double stranded DNA, were negative. Such a ANA negative and lack of typical clinical symptoms of SLE patient, but with severe lupus-like manifestations, whether it was lupus or not is worth discussing.