Determination of viral load of Epstein-Barr virus in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in Kashan during 2014-2015

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease that environmental risk factors such as UV radiation, drugs, chemicals and infections, especially Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are the main causes of the disease. This study aimed to evaluate EBV viral load in serum of patients with SLE. In this cross-sectional study, 40 patients with SLE diagnosed based on American college of rheumatology criteria were selected using purposive sampling. After collecting patient's demographic data and obtaining the patient's consent to participate in the study, 10 ml blood samples were taken from patients and Buffy coat was isolated to determine viral load using the real-time polymerase chain reaction method. From a total of 40 patients, 37 cases (92.5%) were woman and 3 (7.5%) were men. Fifty percent of the cases had active and 50% inactive disease. The EBV test was positive in 67.5% of the patients and was negative in 32.5% of them. Mean viral load was 5396 ± 1891.9 copy/ml. Mean values of EBV viral load in patients with active and inactive SLE were 6798 and 28.25 copy/ml, respectively (P=0.003). Viral loads in women with active and inactive SLE were 5803.3 and 29.73 copy/ml, respectively (P =0.003). Epstein-Barr virus infection is high in SLE patients and the viral load in the active disease is higher than inactive one. Thus, EBV virus may have an important role in the pathogenesis and activity of SLE.