A recent review summarized the current knowledge on how unbalanced T-cell signaling characterizes systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease. The review study, titled “Disturbed T Cell Signaling and Altered Th17 and Regulatory T Cell Subsets in the Pathogenesis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus,” was published in the journal Frontiers in…
Deficiency of a specific form of vitamin D (25(OH)D3) is associated with and independently predicts worse cognitive function in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, according to a study in the journal PLOS One. The report is titled “25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Deficiency Independently Predicts Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.” SLE…
ImmunArray, a molecular diagnostics company developing blood-based tests to support the diagnosis and management of acute and chronic immune and neurodegenerative diseases, has announced that it is making its “rule-out” test for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) available throughout the United States. The company’s SLE-key Rule-Out Test® is a cost-effective blood test…
New research found that a specific set of immune cells named plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), long believed to cause lupus disease, actually did not contribute to late-stage lupus in a mice model. The paper, which has potential implications for future disease treatment, was published in The Journal of Immunology and is titled…
Environmental factors, like the DNA sequence itself, can alter the way genes are read. These differences, known as epigenetics, may contribute to differences in lupus susceptibility among individuals. Here, a research team at the University of Michigan investigated whether these differences could explain a higher tendency to develop lupus in people of…
The “Moving Forward Together to Fight Lupus” gala dinner celebrated the upcoming merging of the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR), the Lupus Research Institute (LRI), and S.L.E. Lupus Foundation. The event — the world’s leading lupus fundraiser — collected close to $3 million for groundbreaking research that promises to…
More than 3,000 scientific abstracts spanning the latest in lupus research were presented at the recent American College of Rheumatology (ACR) annual meeting in San Francisco, which brought together nearly 17,000 healthcare providers and researchers in the fields of rheumatology and immunology. According to an article written by Anita Roach, MS, manager…
The division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) El Paso has been invited to collaborate in a multiple-institute, nationwide research consortium that aims to better understand the causes behind, and discover new potential treatments for, lupus nephritis. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease,…
A new and unusual study describes a three- to 32-year follow-up analysis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients to understand the number who achieve complete remission (three years) and subsequently remain in remission. The study, titled “Analysis of Complete Remission in Lupus Patients over a period of 32 years,”…
Researchers have identified increased exosomal microRNAs in lupus nephritis patients’ urine, and think it may prove to be a useful, non-invasive disease biomarker. Their paper, titled “Increased Urinary Exosomal MicroRNAs in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus,” was published in PLOS One. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic autoimmune disease,…