Systemic lupus erythematosus

(noun)

Systemic lupus erythematosus, often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. As with other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body's own cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage.

Related Terms

Examples of Systemic lupus erythematosus in the following topics:

  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

    • Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that can occur in any organ or tissue in the body.
    • Systemic lupus erythematosus, often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease (or autoimmune connective tissue disease) that can affect any part of the body.
    • SLE most often harms the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and nervous system.
    • Childhood systemic lupus erythematosus generally presents between the ages of three and 15, with girls outnumbering boys 4:1, manifesting with typical butterfly eruptions on the skin of the face, and photosensitivity.
    • Extra vigilance is considered warranted especially for cancers affecting the immune system.

  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

    • Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body, leading to inflammation and tissue damage.
    • Systemic lupus erythematosus, often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease (or autoimmune connective tissue disease) that can affect any part of the body.
    • SLE most often harms the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and nervous system.
    • Some may exhibit thick, red scaly patches on the skin (referred to as discoid lupus).
    • Lupus can manifest with a "butterfly rash" across the cheeks and nose, as shown darkened in this illustration.

  • Hypersensitivities

    • In systemic lupus erythematosus, a diffuse autoantibody response to the individual's own DNA and proteins results in various systemic diseases.
    • Systemic lupus erythematosus may affect the heart, joints, lungs, skin, kidneys, central nervous system, or other tissues, causing tissue damage via antibody binding, complement recruitment, lysis, and inflammation .
    • Systemic lupus erythematosus is characterized by autoimmunity to the individual's own DNA and/or proteins, which leads to varied dysfunction of the organs.
    • Distinguish between the disruptions to the immune system caused by allergies and autoimmunity

  • Hypersensitivity

    • A hypersensitivity reaction refers to an overreactive immune system triggered by allergies and autoimmunity.
    • Hypersensitivity (also called hypersensitivity reaction) refers to undesirable reactions produced by the normal immune system, including allergies and autoimmunity, and are commonly mediated by antibodies.
    • Immediate Hypersensitivity (Type I) is an immediate response to an allergen (a foreign substance that poses no danger in and of itself yet is treated as an antigen) that the immune system has had prior exposure to.
    • Associated disorders: Serum sickness, Arthus reaction, Rheumatoid arthritis, Post streptococcal glomerulonephritis, lupus Nephritis, Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Extrinsic allergic alveolitis (Hypersensitivity pneumonitis).

  • Cytotoxic Autoimmune Reactions

    • Autoimmunity is a result of the failure of an organism's immune system to recognize "self".
    • Prominent examples include Coeliac disease, diabetes mellitus type 1 (IDDM), Sarcoidosis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren's syndrome, Churg-Strauss Syndrome, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves' disease, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Addison's Disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and allergies.
    • The misconception that an individual's immune system is totally incapable of recognizing self antigens is not new.
    • HLA DR2 is strongly positively correlated with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, narcolepsy and multiple sclerosis, and negatively correlated with DM Type 1.
    • Women appear to generally mount larger inflammatory responses than men when their immune systems are triggered, increasing the risk of autoimmunity.

  • The Roles of Genetics and Gender in Autoimmune Disease

    • Prominent examples include Coeliac disease, diabetes mellitus type 1 (IDDM), Sarcoidosis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren's syndrome, Churg-Strauss Syndrome, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves' disease, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Addison's Disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and allergies.
    • The misconception that an individual's immune system is totally incapable of recognizing self antigens is not new.
    • These variations enable the immune system to respond to a very wide variety of invaders, but may also give rise to lymphocytes capable of self-reactivity.
    • HLA DR2 is strongly positively correlated with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, narcolepsy and multiple sclerosis, and negatively correlated with DM Type 1.
    • However, women appear to generally mount larger inflammatory responses than men when their immune systems are triggered, increasing the risk of autoimmunity.

  • Raynaud's Phenomenon

    • It comprises both Raynaud's disease and Raynaud's syndrome; the former (also known as primary Raynaud's phenomenon) being when the phenomenon is idiopathic, and the latter (also known as secondary Raynaud's), which is caused by some other instigating factor, most commonly a connective tissue disorder such as systemic lupus erythematosus.
    • Raynaud's phenomenon is an exaggeration of normal vasomotor responses to cold or emotional stress, caused by hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system.
    • Connective tissue disorders which may cause secondary Raynaud's include scleroderma, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, cold agglutinin disease, and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

  • Type III (Immune Complex) Reactions

    • Immune complex deposition is a prominent feature of several autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, cryoglobulinemia, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and Sjögren's syndrome.
    • Immune complex deposition is a prominent feature of several autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, cryoglobulinemia, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and Sjögren's syndrome.

  • Fluids and Aging

    • Aging, an inevitable and extremely complex, multifactorial process, is characterized by the progressive degeneration of organ systems and tissues.
    • The first group encompass changes in cellular homeostatic mechanisms, for example, body temperature, blood, and extracellular fluid volumes; the second group are related to a decrease in organ mass; the third and possibly the most important group of changes, in terms of their impact, involve a decline in and loss of the functional reserve of the body's systems.
    • Chronic conditions that can produce nephropathy include systemic lupus erythematosus, diabetes mellitus, and high blood pressure (hypertension), which lead to diabetic nephropathy and hypertensive nephropathy, respectively.
    • Maintaining physiological function (health) in an aging population is of prime importance not only to the well-being of the aging individual, but also from a social perspective, helping to reduce the burden on medical services and systems.

  • Complete Antigens and Haptens

    • Antigens are the basic molecule that induces an immune response when they are dietected immune system cells.
    • An example is hydralazine, a blood pressure-lowering drug that occasionally can cause lupus erythematosus (an autoimmune inflammatory disorder) in certain individuals with genetic predispositions to the disease.