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Diseases/Lupus/Genetics

Lupus resource

The genetics of lupus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial immune-mediated disease resulting from the interaction of multiple genetic and environmental risk factors.1

Inherited susceptibility

Genetics contributes substantially to SLE risk.

Heritability estimates describe how much variation in susceptibility across a population is attributable to genetic differences. They do not predict an individual person's chance of developing lupus.

43–60%Estimated heritability of SLE2,3
233Known genetic association signals5
113Loci containing those signals5
Risk, not destinyGenetic susceptibility works alongside environmental and other biological influences. No single common variant determines whether someone will develop SLE.

Genetic association

What genome-wide studies reveal

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been conducted across multiple ancestral populations.4–9 These studies compare genetic variation between large groups of people to identify variants that occur more often in people with SLE.

The 233 currently known association signals are distributed across 113 loci. A locus is a region of the genome: an association at a locus is an important starting point, but it does not by itself identify the causal gene or explain the biological mechanism.

Key findingMost SLE-associated variants lie in non-coding regions and are thought to influence gene regulation rather than alter protein sequence.5
Explore SLE-associated genes →

Evidence base

Key references

Content reviewed July 2026

  1. Su, X. et al. Systemic lupus erythematosus: pathogenesis and targeted therapy. Mol Biomed 5, 54 (2024). doi:10.1186/s43556-024-00217-8
  2. Chen, L., Morris, D. L. & Vyse, T. J. Genetic advances in systemic lupus erythematosus: an update. Curr Opin Rheumatol 29, 423–433 (2017). doi:10.1097/BOR.0000000000000411
  3. Ha, E., Bae, S. C. & Kim, K. Recent advances in understanding the genetic basis of systemic lupus erythematosus. Semin Immunopathol 44, 29–46 (2022). doi:10.1007/s00281-021-00900-w
  4. Wang, Y. F. et al. Identification of 38 novel loci for systemic lupus erythematosus and genetic heterogeneity between ancestral groups. Nat Commun 12, 772 (2021). doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21049-y
  5. Yin, X. et al. Meta-analysis of 208,370 East Asians identifies 113 susceptibility loci for systemic lupus erythematosus. Ann Rheum Dis (2020). doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-219209
  6. Morris, D. L. et al. Genome-wide association meta-analysis in Chinese and European individuals identifies ten new loci associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. Nat Genet 48, 940–946 (2016). doi:10.1038/ng.3603
  7. Elghzaly, A. A. et al. Genome-wide association study for systemic lupus erythematosus in an Egyptian population. Front Genet 13, 948505 (2022). doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.948505
  8. Julià, A. et al. Genome-wide association study meta-analysis identifies five new loci for systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Res Ther 20, 100 (2018). doi:10.1186/s13075-018-1604-1
  9. Harley, J. B. et al. Genome-wide association scan in women with systemic lupus erythematosus identifies susceptibility variants in ITGAM, PXK, KIAA1542 and other loci. Nat Genet 40, 204–210 (2008). doi:10.1038/ng.81