Question: Which cells are affected by lupus?

Kylie Belchamber answered on 16 Jun 2016:

Lupus is an autoimmune disease, which means your immune system attackes your own body. We think that what happens is that people with lupus have abnormalities in cell death (apoptosis), so when the cells die, the immune cells get exposed to the nucleus of the dying cell, and this makes the body make antibodies against itself. From then on, the antibodies can label healthy cells for destruction, and the immune system will attack them.

The main cells affected are monocytes, which are a type of white blood cell that change into macrophages. The monocytes have increased rates of dying, and T cells, another type of white blood cell also die more. So basically, all the cells of the immune system are involved, which is why it is a hard disease to treat.

I hope that answers your question!