الفهرس 
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Abstract
Systemic lupus erythematosUs continues to provide a major etiologic challenge. Current investigation is focusing on the possibilities of environmental faelors. How these factors are related to genetic factors, including the major histocompatibility complex and more recently observed defects in apoptosis genes, remain unclear. Ethnic and geographic studies of systemic lupus erythematosus are providing important clues, as are continued clinical observations on the various subsets of the disease and the patterns of therapeutic response. Different patllogenic mechanisms are constantly being uncovered and in turn need to be related to various aetiologies (Hess and Farhey, 1994). Autoantibodies are the main pathogenic mechanism in SLE. These antibodies arc immunoglobulins and are responsible for contribution to the circulating immune complexes with tho subsequent deposition in different tissues and the end result is direct organ damage. It has been found that serum levels of ill111lunoglobulins are elevated in patients with lupus and this may be responsible for many of the disease manifestations seen in such patients (Bakry Hassan et al., 1998).