Furthering my knowledge on Lupus

My question last week on http://www.askascientist.org/ was whether or not there is a geneti marker which would indicate a predisposition to the disease lupus. I know a bit about Lupus due to the fact that two of my sisters, are fighting and have fought this disease for quite some time (one of them is now recently deceased but not from the disease). I am interested to know about genetic influences on acquiring Lupus and whether or not myself, my children or any of my other siblings will develop the disease anytime in the near future. While the disease has no cure, care can be taken to minimize the flares that occur and even lessen them to a certain extent. However, there is so much more to learn about this disease and how it even begins. As for my question to ask a scientist, I have yet to receive a response. I expect that there will be some sort of response forthcoming but as with anyting worth knowing it may take some time to get an answer. What I do ferverently hope is that the answer is not "sorry but we do not have an answer for you at this time".

http://www.askascientist.org/ seems like a great site to use in my classroom for those questions that the students sometimes ask to which I have no ready answer. I usually have them write them down under the items to be researched on my whiteboard, but this is a way for them to independently try to get answers to some of their questions. Who knows this may even trigger more questions in their minds as they scroll through the site. There is one thing that is certain about middle school students in a science class, and that is that they usually have a ton of questions on every subject, and often it is not on the on you are currently teaching:) This way they can feel like a part of a greater scientific community and if they do receive an answer from a bonafide scientist this may spark their interest in the field of science even more.