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Why rheumatologists should be involved in the treatment of lupus nephritis

Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology volume 4, pages 60–61 (2008)Cite this article

An Article Report to this article was published on 01 February 2008

In a recent issue of Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology,1 Joanne Bargman asked why rheumatologists are treating lupus nephritis. We will endeavor to answer this question in the following paragraphs.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by multiorgan involvement and the presence of various autoantibodies (e.g. antibodies to double-stranded DNA). Arthritis and/or arthralgia occurs in around 85% of patients with SLE and is the first symptom of the disease in up to 59% of patients.2 Renal involvement is also an important manifestation of SLE, occurring in around 45% of cases and being associated with poor outcome.3

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CGM Kallenberg is Professor of Clinical Immunology and M Bijl is Associate Professor of Clinical Immunology in the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.,

    Cees GM Kallenberg & Marc Bijl

Authors
  1. Cees GM Kallenberg
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  2. Marc Bijl
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Correspondence to Cees GM Kallenberg.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Kallenberg, C., Bijl, M. Why rheumatologists should be involved in the treatment of lupus nephritis. Nat Rev Nephrol 4, 60–61 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpneph0696

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