What Causes Lupus?

14. Gender

Lupus affects women significantly more than men. In fact, nearly 80 percent of people with autoimmune diseases are women. Part of this may be due to estrogen, but researchers believe it may also be linked to X chromosomes. Women born with two X chromosomes may have more active genes linked to the X chromosome, like TLR7.

Women with lupus who have these genes active on both of their X chromosomes have more severe symptoms than women who do not. Men with Klinefelter’s syndrome have two X chromosomes and a Y chromosome and are 14 times more likely than other men to develop lupus, and women with trisomy X, who have three X chromosomes, are two and a half times more likely to develop lupus than women with two X chromosomes.