Background: Awareness of the spectrum of clinical manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), especially uncommon changes, is essential for diagnosis and effective management of patients.
Case presentation: A 26-year-old Chinese man with SLE initially manifested cutaneous papulonodular mucinosis and developed acute Guillain-Barré syndrome and class V lupus nephritis 2 years later. His cutaneous nodules had not been idententified for 2 years and were resected by surgical procedures twice until SLE was diagnosed. The kidney biopsy revealed class V lupus nephritis. The patient responded well to a short course of intravenous immunoglobulins and his muscle strength almost completely recovered. So far, he has undergone five cycles of cyclophosphamide combined with hydroxychloroquine and tapering prednisone, resulting in partial remission of lupus nephritis and disappearance of hypocomplementemia.
Conclusion: We reported a rare case of male patient with SLE with manifestation of class V lupus nephritis, Guillain-Barré syndrome and papulonodular mucinosis.
Keywords: Guillain-Barré syndrome; Nephrotic syndrome; Papulonodular mucinosis; Systemic lupus erythematosus.