The Lupus Foundation of America presented two awards recognizing distinguished career achievements in lupus research to Dr Mariana J. Kaplan, of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Dr Timothy B. Niewold, of the Mayo Clinic, at a Nov. 8 foundation ceremony…
A recent study conducted by researchers at the Hospital for Special Surgery evaluated the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) in lupus patients, concluding that the survey could also be used to assess subjective patient experiences. Researchers also reported a disconnect between the patient point of view and objective symptoms, emphasizing the need to…
According to a recent study, complement activation is associated with an increased risk of pregnancy complications in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid antibodies (APL) syndrome. The study is part of PROMISSE (Predicators of pRegnacy Outcome: BioMarkers in antiphospholipid antibody Syndrome and System lupus Erythematosus) — a research effort…
Researchers from Emory University School of Medicine have identified and defined a set of autoantibody-producing cells responsible for the autoimmunity profiles observed in lupus erythematosus patients. The research paper, entitled “Diversity, cellular origin and autoreactivity of antibody-secreting cell population expansions in acute systemic lupus erythematosus” was published in Nature…
Rheumatologists Dr. Thomas Dörner from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Department of Medicine, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, and Dr. Jonathan Kay of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester have collaborated on a research effort to analyze clinical data on biosimilar drugs that have received…
In a recent study entitled “Healthy lifestyle habits for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A systemic review,” researchers identified how the lifestyle habits of systemic lupus erythematosus patients impact disease pathogenesis. The study was published in the Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism journal. Researchers performed a systematic literature…
Hutchison China MediTech Limited (Chi-Med) recently announced that its R&D subsidiary Hutchison MediPharma (HMP) has completed its Phase I study of HMPL-523, a potential global first-in-class oral inhibitor targeting the spleen tyrosine kinase Syk, a key protein involved in B-cell signaling. Modulation of the B-cell signaling pathway has proven to significantly advance…
Researchers at the UT Southwestern Medical center in Dallas, TX have discovered that activating a specific enzyme, cGAS, can sound an alarm for the body’s innate immune system, leading to the development of Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome (AGS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in mice while inhibiting this enzyme leads to their rescue. The research paper,…
The Lupus Initiative (TLI) of The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) was awarded a five-year grant by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The money will go to supporting development of a national, grassroots program aiming to target individuals with undiagnosed lupus, care providers, and rheumatology healthcare providers. From a diagnostic…
The promise that the field of biomarkers hold for earlier diagnosis and hence superior treatment of systemic autoimmune diseases were the focus of a recent review in Drug Discovery & Development. Systemic autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren’s syndrome (SjS), polymyositis/dermatomyositis, and systemic sclerosis (SSc) are disorders…