What is lupus?
Back to Lupus (SLE)Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), often known just as lupus, is an autoimmune disease where your immune system produces antibodies that attack your body’s own tissues, causing inflammation.
Lupus usually affects your skin and joints, but it may also involve your heart or kidneys, when the effects can be severe. SLE isn’t the same as discoid lupus, which only affects the skin.
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Back to Lupus (SLE) 
A couple of weeks before Christmas 2005 14-year-old Natalie Kirkham started feeling unwell, developing a sore throat and breathing difficulties.
Two years ago former Times gardening correspondent George Plumptre donated a kidney to his brother Francis, when lupus caused his kidneys to fail. Now chief executive of the National Gardens Scheme, which made Arthritis Research UK its guest charity in 2010–11, he tells how his donation transformed his brother’s life.