Whether or not lupus is a cancer is a very reasonable and interesting question, as their outward manifestations can sometimes bear similarities. The answer? No; lupus formally known as systemic lupus erythematosus is not a type of cancer. Lupus is a type of autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is a medical condition in which an individual's body's defense system mistakenly attacks the body's own tissue and organs as if they were foreign, dangerous material such as actual cancer or infection-causing bacteria. However, in the case of autoimmune disease, the body's "friendly fire" against its own tissue and organs--while attempting to combat disease--actually causes a disease by damaging healthy tissue and organs. Different autoimmune diseases attack different types of body material. For example, a in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the body's immune defense system mistakenly attacks and destroys its own thyroid gland, causing a disease known as hypothyroidism low thyroid; and b in lupus, the body's immune system mistakenly attacks other crucial, healthy tissue as if it were foreign, causing a variety of possible diseases ranging from arthritis of the joints lupus arthritis to damage of the sac that contains the heart lupus pericarditis--which can be extremely dangerous. Cancer is something completely different. Cancer is not primarily rooted in a disorder of the body's immune system. Cancer is rooted in a disorder of the body's genetic material genes. Genes are the material inside the body's individual cells that dictate what materials a cell is made of, how those materials are arranged and connected, and what functions the cell, as a whole, performs to help maintain the life and health of the body itself. The genes are, in essence, a set of molecules biological particles that direct the make-up, organization and activities of an individual cell. In cancer, one or more gene molecules within a cell are damaged changed in such a way that the damaged genes provide incorrect instructions on the cell's composition, organization and activity. These bad gene instructions can cause the cell to die, malfunction, or reproduce uncontrollably; or a combination of all of these destructive behaviors. This, in turn, can lead to an army of bad cells that destroy and replace healthy tissue and organs with diseased ones; the resulting tissue made up of these bad cells is cancer. Cancer, as we know, can lead to serious disease and death, or, in some cases, to nonfatal disease that can be controlled or cured by anticancer drugs and/or radiation. Thus, autoimmune diseases such as lupus, and damaged-gene diseases such as cancer, have different underlying processes. Nevertheless, either type of condition can cause malfunction, damage, and death of healthy tissue and organs, and depending on circumstances, may either be controllable or curable, or may degrade or shorten life. Because the outward behaviors of cancer and autoimmune disease including lupus may bear similarities, it is understandable that, at first glance, it can be confusing as to whether lupus is a cancer or not. I hope this helps.

Lupus is definitely not cancer. It is an autoimmune disease where the body makes antibodies that attack the patients own body why it is called autoimmune. However, some medications used to treat cancer in the past are used to treat lupus including Imuran and methotrexate as they reduce the number of antibodies that the body makes. Dr. Dore

Lupus is NOT CANCER. Lupus is an autoimmune disease. "Auto" means "self." Auto immunity is an immune reaction against yourself. Lupus is where your body makes antibodies (the same antibodies that fight off infections) against itself. As you can imagine, it is not a great idea for the body's immune system to attack itself. This can cause problems ranging from MILD (such as a rash) to SEVERE (such as kidney failure). Some people with lupus do not have too many problems and they do fine with the medications that are used to calm down the body's natural immune response. HOWEVER, some people with lupus seem to have constant problems and flare-ups. So, the disease can be either mild or serious. It is typically treated by a rheumatologist. Rheumatologists treat a lot of immune type of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. So, to answer your question, NO, lupus is NOT cancer at all.

Not even close. It is caused by an over-active immune system.

No, for stomach lupus is not a cancer. Cancers are diseases in which malignant cells multiply and grow. They cause damage in tissue. Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease with defects in the function of the immune system which can affect many organs. Occasionally, chemotherapeutic drugs are used with lupus to control some of the autoimmune abnormalities. There are rare forms of lung disease which are more common in some lupus patients, but most often occur in smokers, just like in non-lupus patients.