A case of neonatal lupus erythematosus showing transient anemia and hepatitis

Abstract

Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is an autoimmune disease that is associated with transplacental passage of maternal autoantibodies that are reactive to SSA/Ro and SSB/La antigens. Cardiac involvement, hematologic abnormality and hepatic disease may occur in the infants suffering with NLE, in addition to the characteristic skin lesions. We report here on a case of NLE in a 4-week-old female infant who was born to an asymptomatic mother, and the baby displayed the characteristic clinical and histological features of cutaneous NLE with transient anemia and hepatitis. Both the infant and mother were positive for anti-SSA/Ro and anti-SSB/La. There have been 18 case reports of NLE in the Korean literature, including 7 case reports in the dermatological field. We describe herein another case of NLE that showed transient anemia and hepatitis, and we also review the case reports of NLE in the Korean literature.