Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 6, 2023; 11(4): 909-917
Published online Feb 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i4.909
Unusual presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus as hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in a female patient: A case report
Li-Yuan Peng, Jing-Bo Liu, Hou-Juan Zuo, Gui-Fen Shen
Li-Yuan Peng, Jing-Bo Liu, Hou-Juan Zuo, Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China
Gui-Fen Shen, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Peng LY and Liu JB reviewed the literature and drafted the manuscript; Zuo HJ and Shen GF were responsible for the revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient’s legal guardian(s) for publication of this case report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We all declare that we have no conflicts of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gui-Fen Shen, MD, Doctor, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China. guifenshen@126.com
Received: October 13, 2022
Peer-review started: October 13, 2022
First decision: November 30, 2022
Revised: December 29, 2022
Accepted: January 12, 2023
Article in press: January 12, 2023
Published online: February 6, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare life-threatening disorder, including primary HLH and secondary HLH (sHLH). We report a rare case of a 36-year-old female manifested with sHLH on background with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and related with decreased activity of natural killer cells according to whole exon gene sequencing. Our study expanded the thoughts on the diagnosis and treatment of HLH in SLE patients.