Many researchers believe that broad neutralizing antibodies are the key to creatingan effective HIV vaccine, but they haven't yet discovered a way to keep the body from automatically targeting them. An extremely rare case study in a patient might help them unlock how to do it.

With lupus, the body doesn't know that it's supposed to target these broad neutralizing antibodies, and so they are created in much larger numbers than they are in patients with HIV only.

The research found that 14% of patients experience cardiac problems as a result of the auto-immune disorder within five years of diagnosis. It also suggests that particular factors can increase or reduce patients' risk of pericarditis, valvular heart disease, arrhythmias, myocarditis and/or endocarditis.

Using records for an international cohort of more than 1,400 patients from 34 centres across nine Latin American countries, the study tracked patients who were newly diagnosed with SLE between 1997 and 2005. The research identified that those of African ancestry and those in lower socioeconomic groups have a higher risk of cardiac problems, with odds ratios of 1.82 and 1.80 respectively. Existing research has also identified African ancestry as a risk factor for cardiac problems in SLE patients in the UK.