Idiotype regulatory networks promote autoantibody formation.

There is good evidence that the idiotypic network of the immune system can be implicated in the synthesis of pathogenic subsets of autoantibodies. The individual with systemic lupus erythematosus must have the immunoglobulin gene information which permits synthesis of those idiotypes, helper T populations which drive or select for the B cells producing them, and inadequate mechanisms to suppress those activated effector cells.