Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Induced by Vaccines

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a severe multisystem autoimmune disease serologically characterized by the production of a variety of autoantibodies. Several reports and studies have tried to link hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines with clinical SLE manifestations, but they have only shown a temporal relationship. The SLE is induced by HBV vaccines, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, influenza vaccines, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (dTP) vaccines, bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccines, measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines, pneumococcal vaccines, vaccine adjuvants, autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) and other adjuvants such as oil adjuvants and metal adjuvants. Although it may be supported by similar pathogenic pathways that aluminum and other adjuvants are the main trigger for post-vaccination onset of lupus, a causal relation will be difficult to prove, due to the complexity of the various vaccine formulations and of the pathogenesis of SLE.