Polyamine patterns in plasma of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and fever

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease with various clinical manifestations and serologic markers. In this study, we analyzed nine polyamine (PA) profiles of plasma from patients with SLE and healthy controls (HCs), and the relationship between the PA profiles and disease activity. PA alterations in plasma of 44 patients with SLE and fever were investigated using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring mode using N-ethoxycarbonyl/N-pentafluoropropionyl derivatives, and compared with those of 43HCs. Patients with SLE and HCs showed differences in five of nine PA profiles. Among five changed PA levels, four PAs, namely N-1-acetylcadaverine, spermidine, N-1-acetylspermidine, and spermine, were dramatically decreased. However, the level of cadaverine was increased in patients with SLE. In the partial correlation with PA profiles and disease activity markers of SLE, several disease activity markers and nutritional markers were correlated with cadaverine, spermidine, and N-8-acetylspermidine. Thus, our results provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between PA metabolomics and disease activity markers in patients with SLE.