of systemic lupus erythematosus

We have previously shown that the 90 kDa heat-shock protein (hsp90) is notably elevated in lupus patients with active neuro-psychiatric (NP) and/or cardio-respiratory (CR) disease. This elevation is dependent upon enhanced transcription of the hsp90/? gene. Serial studies have shown that changes in hsp90 levels have a high level of sensitivity for changes in activity of NP, CR, haematological and renal SLE. We now present evidence that overexpr-ession of hsp90 in lupus patients is associated with the presence of the anti-phospholipid syndrome, and with the absence of the HLA allo-/haplotypes most commonly found in this particular cohort of patients. We conclude that the upregulation of hsp90 expression in SLE has a genetic basis, and that this may be directly involved in pathogenesis in subsets of patients with this disease