 Researchers at Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women's Hospital say they've found a root cause of lupus, the autoimmune disease that affects more than 1.5 million people and can damage the patient's joints, heart, lungs, and brain. A new study published in the journal Nature pointing to a chemical imbalance in patients with lupus that doctors think explains how the disease develops. And so in short, we're really excited that we have a potential cause for lupus