- With Mayo Clinic emeritus internist
Carl F. Anderson, M.D.
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Carl F. Anderson, M.D.
Carl Anderson, M.D.
Dr. Carl Anderson brings years of medical editing experience at Mayo Clinic to his role in helping guide health information editorial development.
He's an emeritus member of the Mayo Clinic staff. The Winterset, Iowa, native joined the Mayo Clinic staff in 1967 and is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology. He practiced clinical nephrology and internal medicine, with a special interest in kidney failure, renal transplantation, nutrition and medical publishing.
"The Web gives consumers vast health-related information to use both in planning healthy lifestyles and in answering specific medical questions," he says. "Reliability and applicability remain the Achilles' heel of website health information. I believe I can help with both reliability and applicability, for I have extensive clinical experience with questions and problems in internal medicine, nephrology and nutrition."
Dr. Anderson was in charge of Mayo's Nutrition Clinic, is an emeritus professor of medicine at College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, was an editor for Mayo Clinic Proceedings and was head of the Scientific Publications.
Symptoms (3)
- Lupus: Can it cause hair loss?
- Lupus: Can it cause hives?
- Livedo reticularis: When is it a concern?
Complications (1)
- Lupus: How does it affect the kidneys?
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Question
Lupus: How does it affect the kidneys?
How does lupus affect my kidneys?
Answer
from Carl F. Anderson, M.D.
Lupus, or systemic lupus erythematosus, causes chronic inflammation affecting a number of organs, including your kidneys. Kidney inflammation caused by lupus is called lupus nephritis. About half of adults with lupus develop some form of lupus nephritis. Lupus nephritis may lead to kidney failure, but the course of lupus and pattern of its effects on the kidneys is quite variable and hard to predict.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease, with some signs and symptoms in common with other autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, polymyositis and Sjogren's syndrome. Autoimmune diseases develop when your immune system, which normally protects you from foreign microbial invaders, mistakes some of your own tissue for a disease-causing organism or virus. When that happens, your immune system reacts the same way it would to an actual invader — by producing antibodies to neutralize the threat. In autoimmune diseases, however, the perceived threat is actually part of you. The antibodies your immune system produces in response to this misidentification are known as autoantibodies.
Lupus nephritis is caused by a buildup of autoantibodies bound to their target proteins in the small blood vessels (capillaries) of the kidneys. Initially, lupus nephritis may cause no signs or symptoms. But if inflammation is widespread and persistent, it leads to impaired kidney function, indicated by:
- Protein and white blood cells in the urine
- High blood pressure
- Swelling (edema) of the feet and lower legs
- Blood in the urine
If you're diagnosed with lupus, your doctor will likely recommend tests to evaluate your kidney function. These tests may include:
- Urine test (urinalysis), which checks the urine for an elevated protein level, plus red blood cells, white blood cells and bits of material (casts) formed when proteins solidify in the kidney tubules
- Serum creatinine test, a blood test that measures the ability of your kidneys to excrete waste products
These tests may be repeated periodically. If a problem is detected, your doctor may recommend a kidney biopsy. The results of a biopsy help determine the severity of the kidney disease and appropriate treatment.
Next questionLupus: Can it cause hair loss?
- Appel GD, et al. Secondary glomerular disease. In: Brenner BM, et al. Brenner and Rector's the Kidney. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=aboutPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3105-5..X5001-4--TOP&isbn=978-1-4160-3105-5&uniq=178243743#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3105-5..50033-5--cesec2%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-1-4160-3105-5. Accessed Jan. 11, 2010.
- Tassiulas ID, et al. Clinical features and treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. In: Firestein GS, et al. Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: W. B. Saunders Co.; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/178103916-3/0/1807/557.html?tocnode=55733251&fromURL=557.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3285-4..10075-0_2714. Accessed Jan. 11, 2010.
- Gelber AC, et al. Inflammatory rheumatic diseases. In: McPhee SJ, et al. Pathophysiology of Disease: An Introduction to Clinical Medicine. New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill Medicine; 2006. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2091922. Accessed Jan. 11, 2010.
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