Answer:
What is lupus?
Medically reviewed by Vincent J. Tavella DVM, MPH — Written by Yvette Brazier on January 8, 2020
Types
Causes
Risk factors
Symptoms
Video
Classification: 11 symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment and home remedies
Lupus is a long-term autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissue. Symptoms include inflammation, swelling, and damage to the joints, skin, kidneys, blood, heart, and lungs.
Due to its complex nature, people sometimes call lupus the “disease of 1,000 faces.”
In the United States, people report around 16,000 new cases of lupus each year, and up to 1.5 million people may be living with the condition, according to the Lupus Foundation of America.
The Foundation say that lupus affects women in particular, and it is most likely to appear between the ages of 15 and 44 years.
Lupus gained public attention in 2015 after the singer Selena Gomez announced she received a diagnosis in her late teens and underwent treatment for the condition.
Lupus is not a contagious disease. A person cannot transmit it sexually or in any other way to another person.
However, in rare cases, women with lupus may give birth to children who develop a form of lupus. This is called neonatal lupus.
Types
There are different kinds of lupus. This research will focus mainly on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but other types include discoid, drug-induced, and neonatal lupus.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
SLE is the most familiar type of lupus. It is a systemic condition. This means it has an impact throughout the body. The symptoms can range from mild to severe.
It is more severe than other types of lupus, such as discoid lupus, because it can affect any of the body’s organs or organ systems. It can cause inflammation in the skin, joints, lungs, kidneys, blood, heart, or a combination of these.
This condition typically goes through cycles. At times of remission, the person will have no symptoms. During a flare-up, the disease is active, and symptoms appear.
Causes
Lupus is an autoimmune condition, but the exact cause is unclear.
What goes wrong?
The immune system protects the body and fights off antigens, such as viruses, bacteria, and germs.
It does this by producing proteins called antibodies. White blood cells, or B lymphocytes, produce these antibodies.
When a person has an autoimmune condition, such as lupus, the immune system cannot differentiate between unwanted substances, or antigens, and healthy tissue.
As a result, the immune system directs antibodies against both the healthy tissue and the antigens. This causes swelling, pain, and tissue damage.
The most common type of autoantibody that develops in people with lupus is an antinuclear antibody (ANA). The ANA reacts with parts of the cell’s nucleus, the command center of the cell.
These autoantibodies circulate in the blood, but some of the body’s cells have walls permeable enough to let some autoantibodies through.
The autoantibodies can then attack the DNA in the nucleus of these cells. This is why lupus affects some organs and not others.
Why does the immune system go wrong?
Several genetic factors probably influence the development of SLE.
Some genes in the body help the immune system to function. In people with SLE, changes in these genes may stop the immune system from working properly.
One possible theory relates to cell death, a natural process that occurs as the body renews its cells, according to Genetics Home Reference.
Some scientists believe that, due to genetic factors, the body does not get rid of cells that have died.
These dead cells that remain may release substances that cause the immune system to malfunction.
