Background/Purpose: Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) is a clinically variable autoimmune disease occurring predominantly in women of childbearing age. SLE treatment can range from close clinical monitoring to potent systemic immunosuppressive therapy. CMV is a common, endemic virus endemic that half of the United States population has been exposed to. Patients on immunosuppressive medications are at higher risk for complications from CMV, and published case reports describe significant morbidity and mortality SLE patients with active CMV infections.. Despite the potential for increased risk of CMV infection while immunosuppressed, no studies to date have examined CMV seropositivity and positive viral load prevalence in SLE patients and it is not the standard of care to test for CMV. Robust exist data from the transplant population, a group exposed to similar immunosuppression but not in SLE.

Methods: We recruited participants from The Ohio State University’s Lupus Clinic who were. >18 years with confirmed SLE diagnosis. We collected demographic information, laboratory data, SLE history, current medications, and serum CMV immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody titer. If CMV IgG antibody titer was positive, a CMV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) viral load was measured.

Results: Baseline characteristics of the 75 SLE patients are summarized in Table 1. Of the enrolled subjects, 66% had a positive CMV IgG titer, but the viral CMV load has been undetectable for all tested participants (Table 2).

Conclusion: Among the 75 SLE patients tested, CMV IgG seropositivity is 66%, which is comparable to the general population. Among the SLE patients with positive CMV IgG antibodies, none had evidence of active CMV infection by CMV viral load, including patients on immunosuppressive medications. These results differ greatly from the similarly immunosuppressed post-transplant population where 20-60% of patients have acquired acute CMV infections defined by positive viral load. These results suggest that CMV status does not need to be routinely checked in the SLE population unless specifically clinically indicated. Table 1: Participant Characteristics

Table 2: Proportion of Participants CMV IgG and Positive CMV PCR Viral Load

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-cmv-in-the-ohio-state-university-lupus-population/