Lewis MJ, et al. - Novel autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were identified to improve diagnosis and identify subgroups of SLE individuals. Researchers suggested that the novel SLE autoantibody clusters may be of prognostic utility for predicting organ involvement in SLE patients and for stratifying SLE patients for specific therapies. They observed four subgroups of SLE individuals associated with four corresponding clusters of functionally linked autoantigens. The association of autoantibody clusters with different patterns of organ involvement (arthritis, pulmonary, renal and neurological) was also noted. Improved diagnostic accuracy was achieved with a panel of 26 autoantibodies, which accounted for four SLE clusters, as compared to conventional antinuclear antibody and anti-dsDNA antibody assays.