History of lupus erythematosus.

Laurent-Theodore Biett (1781–1840) was born in Schanf, Switzerland. (His given name was Duosch, corresponding to Theodosius rather than Theodore.) As a child, he moved with his family to France. He was educated in Paris. He joined Jean Louis Alibert at the Hopital Saint-Louis and became his deputy. When Alibert was made physician to the king. Biett went to London and, like Rayer, became a Willanist. His lectures were largely published by his pupils Pierre Louis Alphee Cazenave and Henry Edward Schedel (1). The term erytheme centrifuge was first mentioned in the 1838 edition of their writings (2). This was later renamed lupus erythemateux by Cazenave in 1850 (3) and the first case was presented in 1851. Hebra translated the term in 1856 and withdrew his own. Isidor Neumann reported the first histopathology in 1863 (4). Interestingly, the master used the Greco-Latin hybrid he created from French (erythematosus), whereas his assistant Isidor Neumann used a Greek-only derivative (erythematodes). The first form is used in the English-speaking world, and the latter is usual in German-speaking areas. Moriz Kaposi published the first extensive paper in 1872 and pointed to systemic symptoms and to the danger for the patient. It took more than 70 years for LE to become known as an acronym and be recognized as a collagenosis of autoimmune nature (6). In 1948 Hargrave’s classic description of the LE cell ushered in a new era. In the 1960s the lupus band test was described and antinuclear antibodies were identified as responsible for the tissue damage (7, 8). Figure 1. Laurent-Theodore Biett, drawing, in his birthplace.