It is difficult to know. Just as an automobile mechanic must understand how a car engine works before he/she can fix it, we must have a broader and more in-depth understanding of how the immune system works before we can find the cure. We must also continue to look for other causes such as a virus that can cause lupus.

Through research, we establish new knowledge and a better understanding of how the immune system functions. Our knowledge is incomplete, but we don't know how much more we need before we will fully understand what goes wrong in lupus and why. So, we don't know how close we are to a cure because we don't know really where the finish line is. There is a great deal of interest within the scientific community in mastering all the complexities of the immune system. Because of this, there is hope that we will one day understand just precisely what goes wrong with lupus and why. This will be a major step in the process of finding the cure.