ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the possible relevance of recent information in these areas to the pathogenesis of Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SLE is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease of unknown etiology that primarily affects females during their child-bearing years. In many of the reports, however, it is unclear whether detection of antibodies to microbial stress proteins in patient sera represents a true increase in specific antibodies to agents of putative etiological significance or whether their detection simply reflects a polyclonal increase in immunoglobulin levels. Unconfirmed reports suggest that patients with SLE exhibit autoantibodies to ubiquitin and a charged synthetic octapeptide of ubiquinated histone H2A. Although primarily intracellular, certain data suggest that stress proteins, or close homologues thereof, may be expressed on plasma membranes of lymphocytes and other cells. Only limited data are available concerning the development of true autoantibodies to stress proteins; that is, antibodies that react with human antigens.
