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Lupus
(redirected from lupous)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.02 sec.
lupus (l`pəs), noninfectious chronic disease in which antibodies in an individual's immune system attack the body's own substances. In lupus, medically known as lupus erythematosus, antibodies are produced against the individual's own cells, causing tissue inflammation and cell damage. Because the vascular and connective tissue of any body organ may be affected, various symptoms may result. Generalized symptoms include fever, weakness, weight loss, anemia, enlargement of the spleen, and a characteristic butterfly-shaped skin rash on the face. Heart, joint, and kidney disease are common (see nephritis nephritis (nəfrī`təs), inflammation of the kidney.
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). It is believed that the disease may be triggered by certain drugs or foreign proteins, exposure to ultraviolet radiation, or extreme stress. The disease, which may range from mild to fatal, occurs commonly in young women. It is treated with immunosuppressive drugs immunosuppressive drug, any of a variety of substances used to prevent production of antibodies . They are commonly used to prevent rejection by a recipient's body of an organ transplanted from a donor.
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 and steroids steroids, class of lipids having a particular molecular ring structure called the cyclopentanoperhydro-phenanthrene ring system. Steroids differ from one another in the structure of various side chains and additional rings.
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. See immunity immunity, ability of an organism to resist disease by identifying and destroying foreign substances or organisms. Although all animals have some immune capabilities, little is known about nonmammalian immunity.
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; autoimmune disease autoimmune disease, any of a number of abnormal conditions caused when the body produces antibodies to its own substances. In rheumatoid arthritis , a group of antibody molecules called collectively RF, or rheumatoid factor, is complexed to the individual's own gamma
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.

Bibliography

See R. G. Lahita and R. H. Phillips, Lupus: Everything You Need to Know (1998).


lupus
any of various ulcerative skin diseases

Lupus [′lü·pəs]
(astronomy)
A southern constellation lying between Centaurus and Scorpius. Also known as Wolf.


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