One of the functions of the immune system is to protect the body by responding to invading microorganisms, such as viruses or bacteria, by producing antibodies or sensitized lymphocytes (types of white blood cells).  Under normal conditions, an immune response cannot be triggered against the cells of one's own body.  In certain cases, however, immune cells make a mistake and attack the very cells that they are meant to protect.  This can lead to a variety of autoimmune diseases.  They encompass a broad category of related diseases in which the person's immune system attacks his or her own tissue.

Lupus, or Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disorder, means wolf, and Erythmatosus means redness.  The name was coined in 1851 because the facial rash looked like the bite of a wolf.  Lupus, the disease, is believed to have been described by Hippocrates around 400 BC.

Lupus Canada

American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association AARDA

Screen for Klinefelter's, Infertility in Men With Lupus
Volume 4, Issue 3, Page 10 (May 2009)

SALLY KOCH KUBETIN

NEW YORK — Men with lupus have a 15-fold increased risk for Klinefelter's syndrome and its associated sterility, according to unpublished data from a U.S. lupus registry. Asking men with lupus whether they have had fertility problems has a 30% sensitivity for identifying a man with Klinefelter's syndrome, said Dr. John Harley, chair of arthritis and immunology at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City. Link

A scholarly examination showing the association of 47,XXY/KS with lupus: Klinefelter's syndrome (47,XXY) in male systemic lupus erythematosus patients: Support for the notion of a gene-dose effect from the X chromosome