Lupus

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Lupus: Fast Facts

• Lupus belongs to a family of disorders called autoimmune diseases, which means a person's immune system mistakes its own normal body cells for unwelcome infections and attacks them.
• The most severe and potentially fatal form is known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Lupus can strike at any age but hits women 10 to 15 times more often than men.
• Lupus produces a range of chronic symptoms—including achy or swollen joints, fever, extreme fatigue, and butterfly-shaped facial rashes—that often seem to disappear before flaring up again. It typically affects only a few organs but can involve any number of body parts, including the joints, lungs, kidneys, blood, and tissues.
• Diagnosing lupus has historically been tricky, as its symptoms can be fleeting and similar to other illnesses.
• A number of environmental factors — such as infections, antibiotics, ultraviolet light, hormones, extreme stress, and certain drugs — appear to activate the symptoms of lupus. Scientists haven't pinpointed any particular genes that cause lupus, although the disease seems to run in families.

Learn more about autoimmune diseases at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

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Lupus: Some of our Key Research

Using transplantation to treat severe autoimmune diseases
Dr. Richard Nash and colleagues are leading clinical trials to examine the feasibility of high-dose chemotherapy and stem-cell transplantation — the standard treatment for leukemia and other blood cancers — in treating severe forms of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus and scleroderma (also known as systemic sclerosis). Their early results have been promising, prompting larger studies.

With transplantation, it may be possible to remove the reactive cells that trigger the immune system to attack the body. In such a transplantation, a patient's stem cells are collected, and cells that react against the patient's own tissue are removed. Next, the patient undergoes high-dose chemotherapy and takes drugs to suppress their immune system. The patient then receives an infusion of the stem cells that were collected before treatment, with the goal of rebuilding a new, healthier immune system. Learn more. »

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Lupus: More Resources

• Advances in disease treatment in recent years have come out of clinical trials that test innovative medical approaches on patients. Find out more about clinical trials on lupus. »

• The Hutchinson Center conducts ongoing studies that depend on participation of healthy volunteers. Learn more about getting involved in research studies. » 

• The Hutchinson Center is on a mission to eliminate cancer and related diseases as causes of human suffering and death, and you can help. Make a gift today. »

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