What Virus Causes Lupus Nephritis

The causes of Lupus Nephritis are always still ongoing research. Some theories show that lupus nephritis can be aroused by many factors. Among the factors, virus is one of the causes of lupus which leads to kidney disease.

Virus infection

A study shows that the blood in patients with lupus nephritis has viruses, such as measles virus, type I or II influenza virus, EB virus and so on. Besides, the antibodies (dsRNA, ds-DNA and RNA-DNA) can be found in their blood. All the information above improves that lupus nephritis is caused by virus infection.

Which people would be affected by those viruses?

In many cases, people do not have lupus nephritis even if they are infected by those types of viruses above. So there are some certain people who would suffer from this disease after attached by those viruses.

The people with lupus nephritis have a disordered immune system which is the main cause for them to develop into this disease after virus infection. In the normal people, their immune system will release antibody to fight against invader viruses. When the antibodies won by themselves or with the help of drugs, people will recover as before. However, in the people who have lupus nephritis, their antibodies attack the virus and the body cells at the same time. So furious immune reaction is aroused and many tissues in their face, brain, joints, heart, disease etc have been damaged.

What is more, numerous immune complexes are formed after the lupus immune reaction. And they cannot be resolved by their immune system and have to deposit in blood. When the blood passes by kidneys, immune complexes will stay in kidney tissues and arouse renal inflammation. That is why patients with lupus are easy to get kidney disease. In medical field, kidney disease caused by lupus is called lupus nephritis.


Lupus nephritis is very dangerous for it can destroy kidneys quickly. Thereby patients need more accurate tests for a suitable therapeutic schedule. You can consult our experts online freely for exact tests and treatment for lupus nephritis. Besides, you can make an appointment for expert video consultation online.