An international panel of experts on lupus has defined key issues that need to be overcome — with disease variability being the biggest challenge — to improve the clinical outcomes of patients living with the disease, as part of the Addressing Lupus Pillars for Health Advancement (ALPHA) project.
Systemic lupus erythematous patients with antibodies against the protein LINE-1 p40 are more likely to have active and severe disease, a study shows. Since the presence of antibodies against p40 likely represents an early immune response, testing for it may help diagnose the disease earlier on, researchers…
Changes in gut bacteria, or microbiota, during pregnancy and lactation can shift the immune response towards a more pro-inflammatory state that can bolster autoimmune responses and worsen lupus, a mouse study suggests. Pregnant and lactating mice were found to have increased production of inflammatory mediators and dampening of anti-inflammatory…
A treatment regimen that maximizes the use of hydroxychloroquine, pulse methyl-prednisolone, and methotrexate — while reducing doses of oral prednisone — leads to better outcomes, including prolonged clinical remission, among people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a study suggests. The study, “Prolonged remission in SLE…
B-cells in people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are distinct from those in healthy people, even at very early stages in B-cell development, a new study shows. The study with that finding, “Epigenetic programming underpins B cell dysfunction in human SLE,” was published in Nature Immunology.
Progentec, a company developing new diagnostic technologies for chronic conditions, has been awarded $1.7 million to validate its blood biomarker test as an accurate tool for measuring disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the company announced. The Fast-Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant is from the…
Attaining a low disease state — deemed Lupus Low Disease Activity State or LLDAS — has become a major goal for treatment for people with systemic lupus erythematosus. Researchers now have demonstrated that achieving this state not only protects patients from organ damage and improves quality of life,…
A Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating Resolve Therapeutics‘ investigational treatment RSLV-132 in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has completed patient enrollment, the company announced. The trial has recruited 64 patients with active skin disease and are positive for RNA antibodies. Patients were recruited at 20 centers in the United…
Examining gene expression in hair follicles may be sufficient to diagnose chronic discoid lupus erythematosus (CDLE), a kind of lupus in the scalp, avoiding invasive and expensive scalp biopsies, a study suggests. The study, “Plucked hair follicles from patients with chronic discoid lupus erythematosus show a…
Scientists have found a new set of biomarkers that may be used to predict the risk of heart disease in patients with juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE). The findings were discussed in an oral presentation titled, “Metabolomics in juvenile-onset SLE: identifying new biomarkers to predict cardiovascular risk,”…