Takeaway
Structural global network abnormalities were identified in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with healthy control (HC) subjects and abnormalities were more pronounced in patients with anti-double stranded DNA (ADNA) autoantibodies.
No difference in functional global network properties was observed between patients with SLE and HC subjects.
Why this matters
SLE is a chronic immune-mediated disease that can worsen and lead to neuropsychiatric-SLE (NP-SLE).
Despite NP-SLE symptoms occurring in 80% of those with SLE, the pathogenesis of NP-SLE and the association of structural and functional abnormalities with disease severity is poorly understood; our understanding of the brain structure-function relationship can be improved by network mapping.