A team of scientists from the University of California San Francisco has developed an innovative technique to genetically engineer genes involved in the body’s immune response. This new approach has the potential to revolutionize the way autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and HIV are treated. …
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that includes $5 million in funding for the Lupus Research Program at the Department of Defense in 2019. Approval comes on the heels of a vote favoring such funding by members of House Appropriations Committee in June. That House…
Designing therapeutics that block cGAS–STING — a cell-signaling pathway associated with inflammation — could help treat patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, a new study suggests. The study, “Apoptosis-derived membrane vesicles drive the cGAS–STING pathway and enhance type I IFN production in systemic lupus erythematosus,” was published in the journal…
The Lupus Foundation of America and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are co-funding a five-year, Phase 2 trial that will investigate mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a potential treatment for moderate to severe lupus. The lupus foundation had already announced a $3.8 million five-year grant supporting…
Frequent delays found in diagnosing systemic lupus erythematosus in a large group children were mostly due to mild symptoms at disease onset, while those with evidence of severe and multi-system disease were typically diagnosed in about one month, a study of pediatric lupus patients in Brazil reported. The study, “Characteristics of 1555…
People who have had their appendix surgically removed, particularly younger women, are considerably more likely to develop systemic lupus erythematosus than those who have not had an appendectomy, researchers in Taiwan report. Women under age 50, in fact, were found to be at a 2.3 times greater risk of lupus following this surgery,…
Levels of certain antibodies are significantly associated with particular clinical characteristics of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and could be used to assess disease activity in patients, a study finds. The study, “Antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens (ENAS) in systemic lupus erythematosus patients: correlations with clinical manifestations and disease…
IFN-alpha Kinoid, an investigational vaccine by Neovacs, has a favorable safety profile and showed encouraging signs of effectiveness in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, according to results from a Phase 2b clinical trial. While the vaccine candidate failed to meet the trial’s primary objective — an improvement…
The Lupus Research Alliance awarded Novel Research Grants to two University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) researchers who will use the funds to explore potential targeted treatments for lupus. Besides UAB’s Andre Ballesteros-Tato, PhD, and Frances Lund, PhD, seven other researchers in the U.S. were awarded…
The relationship between emotional health and work/regular activities of daily living is influenced by the use of corticosteroids in women with systemic lupus erythematosus, a new study shows. The study, “Cultural and quality-of-life considerations when administering corticosteroids as a therapeutic strategy for African American women living with systemic lupus…