Rheumatoid arthritis with serologic evidence suggesting systemic lupus erythematosus: Clinical, serologic and chromatographic studies

Fourteen patients with antinuclear activity demonstrable in their serum were studied in detail. All had severe, deforming rheumatoid arthritis with visceral manifestations, and eight had chronic leg ulcers. Serum protein chromatography provided evidence that, in these patients, macromolecular globulins comprised a greater proportion of the antinuclear activity than was true in systemic lupus erythematosus. The factors were considered to be a manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis possibly provoked by chronic bacterial infection.