Systemic lupus erythematosus is an inflammatory connective tissue disease. Although many ethiological factors are taken into consideration, the best confirmed one is deregulation of immunological response, which results in an autoimmune response and secondary inflammation within many tissues and organs. A subject of this paper is a contribution that was brought by Eleonora Reicher’s Institute of Rheumatology in Warsaw to the development of research studies on this disease, in years 1963–2002. This work attempts to evaluate this contribution.