Annular erythema (AE) associated with anti-Ro (SSA) and/or La (SSB) autoantibody in patients
with Sjogren syndrome (SS) or with SS/systemic lupus erythematosus overlap syndrome (SS/SLE),
has recently been described in Orientals, and it may be a counterpart of annular skin lesion
of the subacute cutaneous LE seen mostly in Caucasians. The author examined five Korean AE
patients in respect to dinical diversity. In this small-sample study, subtle differences
appeared between individual cases regarding the serologic features and the diagnoses of the
disease. Among the five cases, four had circulating anti-Ro and anti-La antibodies, and one
had only anti-La. Regarding the diagnosis, one was SS/SLE, two were primary SS, and the
remaining two were only "AE associated with anti-Ro/La antibody". There seem to be a wide
clinical spectrum in the disease expression of AE associated with anti-Ro/La autoantibody
than previously thought.
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