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.

  • 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).

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Peritonitis

    • Systemic infections such as tuberculosis may rarely have a peritoneal localization.
    • Much rarer non-infectious causes may include familial Mediterranean fever, porphyria, and systemic lupus erythematosus.

  • Congenital Heart Defects

    • Known antenatal environmental factors that may lead to congenital heart defects include maternal infections (Rubella), drugs (alcohol, hydantoin, lithium, and thalidomide) and maternal illness (diabetes mellitus, phenylketonuria, and systemic lupus erythematosus).

  • Role of the Complement System in Immunity

    • The complement system consists of a number of small proteins found in the blood, generally synthesized by the liver as a part of the acute phase reaction during systemic inflammation (from TNF-alpha release).
    • There are three different pathways by which the complement system may occur.
    • The classical complement pathway is the main pathway by which the complement system occurs.
    • It is thought that the complement system might play a role in many diseases with an immune component, such as Barraquer-Simons Syndrome, asthma, lupus erythematosus, glomerulonephritis, various forms of arthritis, autoimmune heart disease, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, ischemia-reperfusion injuries, and rejection of transplanted organs.
    • The complement system is also becoming increasingly implicated in diseases of the central nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions such as spinal cord injuries.

  • 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.

  • Myocarditis and Endocarditis

    • NBTE usually occurs during a hypercoagulable state such as system wide bacterial infection, or pregnancy, though it is also sometimes seen in patients with venous catheters.
    • Another form of sterile endocarditis is termed Libman-Sacks endocarditis; this form occurs more often in patients with lupus erythematosus and is thought to be due to the deposition of immune complexes.
    • After the virus is gone, the immune system may attack cardiac myosin.