Multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Occurrence in two generations of the same family

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have overlapping clinical features and laboratory findings. It has, in fact, been hypothesized that MS and SLE have a common etiology. Usually MS and SLE are considered to have autoimmune pathogenesis, and both are chronic diseases that can respond to steroids. Some patients are diagnosed with either MS or SLE but subsequently develop the other disease. We described a family where multiple members of one generation have SLE and two members of the preceding generation have MS. Histocompatibility typing did not reveal any association between HLA inheritance of genes and incidence of severity of disease.