Karen Costenbader, MD, MPH
Director, Lupus Program
Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical Schoool
An increasing number of environmental exposures have been associated with risk of developing SLE. Growing epidemiologic evidence supports the concept that many of these exposures may act by increasing systemic inflammation, fanning the flames of brewing autoimmunity. I will review some of the recent epidemiologic findings and evidence for this hypothesis.