Justine Ferran - The Weekend Australian, 4 September 2004
Our immune system is a formidable weapon. Immune cells acts as seek-and-destroy missiles, identifying and attacking foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses, as well as building defences to prevent future attacks.
But like any war, there is a certain amount of "friendly fire". In the case of the immune system, it can result in auto-immune diseases, where immune cells wrongly identify parts of our own bodies as harmful, and so attack.
Auto-immune diseases occur when the body's lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, turn on the body's organs instead of on the foreign bodies and infectious agents they're supposed to attack.
One of the most common is diabetes, in which the immune system targets the pancreas, and one that causes the most widespread damage is lupus.
There are three main types of lupus, discoid lupus erythematosus which mainly affects the skin causing a rash or redness; drug-induced lupus, which is triggered by medication and usually ceases when the drugs are stop; and systemic lupus erythematosus ( SLE ).
The systemic form of lupus is so called because it affects our entire system, attacking organs throughout the body including the heart, lungs, kidney, brain and central nervous system. It is the most common form of lupus and can have mild or severe symptoms.
Lupus usually occurs in women, in fact nine out of ten people with lupus are women, and it most often first appears when they're between the ages of 15 and 44.
The most common symptoms are painful or swollen joints, fever, chest, pain, swollen glands, fatigue, hair loss, a low blood count, sensitivity to the sun, depression, unexplained seizures or kidney problems and even hallucinations.
People with lupus can often develop a red rash or colour change on their face, often appearing as a butterfly shape across the nose and cheeks.
The symptoms of lupus tend to flare, so will appear one week and disappear the next making the diagnosis difficult.
Scientists are uncertain what causes lupus, but because it most frequently occurs during a woman's child-bearing years it is thought to be linked to female hormones.
Lupus does tend to run in families but other factors such as the environment, sunlight and stress are thought to play a role.
A breakthrough of sorts in our understanding of lupus came recently with the discovery by researchers from the University Minnesota of a gene associated with the systemic form of lupus. Reporting in the September edition of the American Journal of Human Genetics, the scientists discovered a gene variation, known PTPN22 in about one in four lupus patients. The gene is normally carried by about one in six healthy Caucasians in the US.
It appears to predispose its carrier to a variety of auto-immune conditions and scientists believe it interacts with other genes and environmental factors.
Disclaimer :
The Lupus Group of W.A. (Inc.) does not recommend or endorse any products, drugs, treatments, procedures, medical or health professional in this article. We suggest you discuss this information with your doctor or specialist.