The presence of severe nephritis is a serious adverse prognostic feature of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The book summarizes the remarkable amount of information that has been generated in the quest for relief of patients, mostly young women, who have the unfortunate circumstances of having developed severe lupus nephritis. Lupus nephritis pulls together in one reference source the current knowledge regarding the inherited and immunologic abnormalities which havebeen identified in SLE with specific reference to the development of renal disease and the way in which these factors may impact upon the chronic care of these patients. This book is also an uptodate resource regarding the diagnosis and management of a broad range of abnormalities which are encountered in thepopulation with lupus nephritis. The pathology, the clinical findings and therapeutic knowledge are reviewed, with chapters on the special problems associated with dialysis and transplantation therapy, and pregnancy in the patient with lupus nephritis. Physicians and scientists have been wrestling with the issue of the most effective treatment of this serious, potentially catasrophic, clinical problem for half a century. We must now look to the next century for the advances which can take usone step beyond our present therapeutic strategies.