Endothelial dysfunction in systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Introduction. The endothelium is a crucial regulator of vascular homeostasis lupusassociated chronic systemic inflammation may compromi se endothelial functioning triggering a chain of events that when combined with established CVD risk factors leads to the formation and progression of atherosclerosis. Purpose. To asses how SLE affect the function of endothelium. Material and methods. We have performed a database search of all relevant literature published until June The search included English written articles Electronic databases including PubMed Oxford Academics Google Scholar were searched using the following terms: ”SLE+endothelium dysfunction”. Results. The search yielded articles out of which articles were considered relevant published from to Out of articles were literature reviews and cross sectional and case control studies including a total number of SLE patients To date the vast majority of available data albeit not all indicates that endothelium dependent FMD values are lower in SLE patients compared to healthy subjects Notably FMD variations can be used to assess certain therapy methods capacity to improve endothelial function in SLE patients. Conclusions. Endothelial function appears to be affected by SLE potentially contributing to the increased cardiovascular risk observed in SLE patients.