BI 456 Immunology
Disease Term Paper
11/21/14
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus:
Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options
I. INTRODUCTION
Lupus, Latin for “wolf,” originally referred to the erosive facial lesions that resembled a wound from a wolf’s bite. In the Middle Ages lupus was mainly described as a dermatologic condition. It was not until 1872 that lupus was considered a systemic disease that presented with subcutaneous nodules, arthritis, lymphadenopathy, fever, weight loss, anemia, and central nervous system involvement.1
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder that causes chronic inflammation of connective tissues, with multifactorial pathophysiology and heterogeneous clinical manifestations. The autoimmunity is conferred by dysregulation of aspects from both innate and adaptive immunity, which leads to the production of autoantibodies. In SLE the most implicated autoantibodies are those …show more content…
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