Conditions: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Keywords: SLE atherosclerosis omega-3
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 106
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The investigators hypothesize that low-dose dietary supplementation with omega-3 fish oil will improve disease activity and endothelial function in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients.

Detailed description:
Patients with SLE have a fifty-fold increased risk of myocardial infarction. This risk is not totally explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. In a previous double-blind study of atorvastatin in SLE, there was no reduction in surrogate measures of coronary artery disease (coronary calcium, coronary IMT, carotid plaque) and no effect on inflammatory markers such as ICAM, VCAM, IL-6 and CRP. We need to find novel approaches to reduce coronary artery disease in SLE. In a preliminary study, omega-3 was shown to improve flow mediated dilation of the brachial artery, oxidative stress and disease activity in lupus patients. In this study we will determine if omega-3 improves brachial artery flow dilation, disease activity and other vascular inflammatory markers (IL-6, s-VCAM-1, s-ICAM-1) in SLE, in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

Arms:
arm 1: 3 g of Omega-3 (1.8 g eicosapentaenoic acid, 1.2 g docosahexaenoic acid ethyl esters); flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery arm 2: corn starch; flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery

Interventions: intervention 1: Omega-3 intervention 2: flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery intervention 3: corn starch
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Omega-3-acid ethyl esters (Lovaza) 3 gram once a day for 12 weeks intervention 2: flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery measurement at baseline and after 12 weeks intervention 3: 3 capsules qd for 12weeks

Protocol document: