A 70-year-old patient with seronegative lupus nephritis: rare case

Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease known to be associated with various kinds of autoantibodies such as Antinuclear antibodies (ANA). ANA is found to be positive in most of the SLE patients. In fact, ANA positivity in serum is one of the diagnostic criteria of SLE. However, a minority of SLE patients may present with ANA negativity. We report a 70-year-old female who presented with massive edema and 10-gram/day proteinuria. Her serum antibodies for SLE were all negative and the renal biopsy showed a class V lupus nephritis. This case was unusual type of SLE due to multiple reasons namely the patient was an elderly woman, with isolated lupus nephritis and negative serology including ANA negativity.