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Letter
Serum prolactin stress values in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
  1. C Dostál1,
  2. L Moszkorzová1,
  3. L Musilová1,
  4. Z Lacinová2,
  5. J Marek2,
  6. J Zvárová3
  1. 1Institute of Rheumatology, Na Slupi 4, Prague 2, 128 50 Czech Republic
  2. 23rd Medical Department, 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague 2, Czech Republic
  3. 3EuroMISE Centre, Charles University and Ac Sciences, Prague 2, Czech Republic
  1. Correspondence to:
    Professor C Dostál;
    dost{at}revma.cz

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.62.5.487

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    Over the past decade we have seen a gradual increase in reports giving more support to the hypothesis that mildly or moderately increased values of serum prolactin have a role in the pathogenesis and clinical activity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Jara et al summed up this information in an article published in a special edition of the international journal Lupus.1 “Idiopathic hyperprolactinaemia” (hyperprolactin) has been confirmed under a variety of conditions by several authors, including us,2 in 20–30% of patients with SLE investigated; nevertheless, opinion continues to vary about its connection with greatly increased clinical activity of the disease.3,4

    Prolactin is a hormone with a very wide range of action, and its effect on the immune response has been proved in both animal experiments5 and in humans.6 It is also one of the stress hormones, and the physiological 24 hour curve of its serum concentrations is similar to that of the growth hormone, a near relation, but not to those of the hormones along the line connecting the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortex.

    In our first experiments designed to reproduce the study of hyperprolactin in patients with SLE or even rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we took account of the fact, emphasised by endocrinologists, that prolactin as a stress hormone is released in repeated pulses rather than continually; this is true at least, for the prolactin of pituitary origin, though not prolactin secreted in lymphoid paracrine tissue.7 The secretion of prolactin in the adenohypophysis …

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