Xu Y, et al. - In patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), researchers examined the levels of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA). Comparative groups included 22 nonpregnant and 36 pregnant women with SLE (test groups) and 60 nonpregnant women and 199 non-SLE (control groups) pregnant women. While there was a trend of increased cfDNA levels with higher SLEDAI scores, no association of increased cfDNA levels with nephritis, skin manifestations, multiorgan inflammations or with other inflammatory markers such as decreased C3 and C4 levels or increased anti-ds DNA antibodies was found. The outcomes suggest that, in addition to classical serological SLE markers, the measurement of circulating plasma cfDNA levels has the potential to be a useful biomarker for the evaluation and monitoring of SLE disease activity in patients.