Deepali Sen

Does this patient have systemic lupus erythematosus? Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic disease of unknown etiology in which immune responses are directed against the body’s own tissues. SLE is a disease whose hallmarks are autoantibodies and complement activation. While some autoantibodies are clearly pathogenic (i.e., anti-platelet antibodies, anti-lymphocyte antibodies), others (i.e., anti-dsDNA antibodies)…