What is lupus caused by?

The etiology or origin of lupus is unknown, but SLE is beleived to be a disorder associated with a genetic predisposition requiring an as yet unidentified environmental trigger. The genetic risks may involve several genes including some which increase the relative likelihood of developing the disorder and others that convey a risk for more severe disease (i.e. kidney involvement). The illness is most prevelant in African Caribbean females with a prevalence as high as 1 in 200. However, the female offspring of a women with the disease has about a 1 in 15 chance of developing SLE which is to say the child would still have an 85% chancce of never developing the disease, but because of the influence of inherited genes is still much more likely to display SLE as compared to the general population. The role for the environment is illustrated by the concordance rate (i.e. likelihood both twins would be affected) of 30-50% for monozygotic or identical twins. Therefore, even between twins with identical or nearly identical DNA and genes the likelihood of the increased but still far short of 100%. Multiplex registries comparing the genes between affected and unaffected members of a family where two or more persons are affected has been successful in identifying candidate genes for SLE disease causation.

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