Case Study Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Within each of us, there is an immune system that works hard to keep us healthy and devoid of disease and infection. Composed of white blood cells, the immune system functions to identify and destroy foreign substances, known as pathogens or antigens. In the case of an autoimmune disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus, abbreviated SLE, the immune system does not function as it should. Instead of attacking and destroying foreign invaders, the immune system reacts to the body’s own healthy tissues as if they were pathogens. This causes a multitude of unpleasant and health-threatening symptoms, such as inflammation of tissues all over the body as well as an increased likelihood of infection because the immune system’s resources are being …show more content…
During normal B cell production in the bone marrow, there are various checkpoints ensuring that the majority of B cells produced are normal and not autoreactive, or programmed to react to the body’s own tissues. The presence of a small amount of autoreactive B cells within the immune system is expected because these are useful in clearing out unwanted substances within the body, such as some types of waste; however, a large amount of these autoreactive cells is not desired because it indicates autoimmunity. If many autoreactive cells are being produced in a healthy immune system, the checkpoints prevent them from being released into the body. In SLE, these checkpoints malfunction, leading to an increased number of autoreactive B cells released into the immune system. The presence of these defective B cells leads to increased unnecessary reactions to the body’s tissues and decreased resources dedicated to eradicating real …show more content…
Since these side effects increase with dosage, the high doses of glucocorticoids that would be needed to treat severe cases might do just as much harm as they would good. Therefore, immunosuppressant drugs are often prescribed along with glucocorticoids so that the dosage of the glucocorticoids can be lessened, thus reducing the side effects that come along with it. Immunosuppressant drugs can also be prescribed along with glucocorticoids in order to create a more powerful treatment regimen when the effects of SLE remain critical and activity of the malfunctioning immune system is high. These drugs are designed to reduce the activity of the immune system in its entirety, suppressing the lymphocytes so that the body is forced to stop attacking its own tissues. This will result in fewer autoantigen-antibody complexes, lessening the buildup of these immune complexes in the body’s tissues. Thus, there will be less inflammation and less damage to vital organs and