A novel classification rule is a promising method to distinguish between patients with unclear systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), a recent study found. Researchers evaluated a total of 205 variables from 111 SLE and 55 MCTD patients in order to uncover unique molecular and clinical markers for each disease. They found:

• SLE and MCTD patients exhibited contrasting molecular markers and clinical manifestations.

• Reduced models highlighted SLE patients exhibiting prevalence of skin rashes and renal disease, while MCTD cases show dominance of myositis and muscle weakness.

• Additionally, decision tree analyses revealed a novel classification rule tailored to differentiate unclear SLE and MCTD patients with an overall accuracy of 88%.

• Validation of the novel classification rule includes novel contrasting characteristics between SLWE and MCTD patients and showed a 33% improvement in distinguishing these disorders when compared to currently used classification criteria sets.

Citation: Mesa A, Fernandez M, Wu W, Narasimhan G, Greidinger EL, Mills DK. Can SLE classification rules be effectively applied to diagnose unclear SLE cases? [Published online ahead of print June 27, 2016]. Lupus. doi:10.1177/0961203316655212.