<p>This issue brings the rheumatologist on the current thinking on treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, with an eye to the future. Topics covered include B cell biology and related therapies; glutamate receptor biology and its clinical significance in neuropsychiatric SLE; platelet C4d and vascular complications; biomarkers in lupus nephritis; endothelial function and its implications for cardiovascular and renal disease in SLE; changing worldwide epidemiology of SLE and its relationship to environmental, ethnic, and other sociodemographic factors; work loss, disability, quality of life, and compliance in SLE; pediatric lupus; metabolic syndrome and related endocrine abnormalities; the significance of interferon and the consequences of anti-interferon in SLE; and cutaneous lupus and the CLASI instrument. </p>