This study will be a collaborative effort nationwide. There may be more than half a million lupus patients and more than half will have been diagnosed before their 35th birthday. By crude estimates, it means that there are 300,000 people who got lupus in their 30s. If 70 percent have a sister that means that they have a population of 200,000 potential recruits for the study. They are ultimately looking to recruit 4,000 sisters. The plan is to also mine the genome to identify genes that put families at risk and start to link the various genes to the different symptoms of the disease.

The sisters who have anti-nuclear antibodies but no signs of disease will also help tell the story of how the body's immune system fends off this autoimmune disease. Can they identify markers of progression to disease? Who will get lupus and when? "The healthy person will help us understand the disease," Dr. Diamond said.

Women who were diagnosed with lupus between the ages of 10 and 35 are invited to join the study if they have a sister or sisters (also between the ages of 10 and 35) without a diagnosis of lupus. Half-sisters are welcome to join the SisSLE study as well.

Source: Feinstein Institute for Medical Research