Products derived from activating the complement pathway — a well-established player in the development of lupus — may server as a marker of disease activity and improve the monitoring of patients, a study reports. Researchers showed that EC4d, a product of the complement pathway bound to red blood cells, correlates…
Rigel Pharmaceuticals is starting a Phase 1 study in healthy people to assess R835, a potential treatment for lupus and other autoimmune diseases. The study will evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (how a drug move inside the body) and pharmacodynamics (how the body affects a drug) of R835 in both single-ascending and…
More than one-third of German patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) did not get vaccinated, largely due to fear of developing a lupus flare or negative side effects related to the vaccines, a new study shows. The study, “Vaccination coverage in systemic lupus erythematosus—a cross-sectional analysis of the German…
Researchers found that controlling the activity of Tbet, the main transcription factor of inflammatory T-cells, reduces kidney inflammation and tissue damage in mice prone to develop lupus. The study, “Intranuclear delivery of the transcription modulation domain of Tbet-improved lupus nephritis in (NZB/NZW) F1 lupus-prone mice,” was…
Pain disturbs sleep and can augment depression, two factors that directly impact cognition in people with systemic lupus erythematosus, according to a study that looked into how pain relates to cognitive health in SLE patients. Its researchers recommended that patients with depression or sleep problems be treated, preferably using non-pharmacologic approaches,…
Baricitinib, a medicine approved in the U.S., Europe and Japan for rheumatoid arthritis, significantly improved the clinical outcomes of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients compared with a placebo, Eli Lilly and Company revealed. The results from the Phase 2 trial (NCT02708095) were presented at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2018) June…
Lower testosterone levels might be the reason behind why women are at a higher risk than men of developing autoimmune diseases like lupus, new research suggests. Using animal models, researchers observed that testosterone inhibits the survival of B-cells, which are responsible for producing the autoantibodies that…
A combination treatment of bisphosphonate and vitamin D may prevent cardiovascular disease in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a new study shows. The study, “Effect of combined treatment with bisphosphonate and vitamin D on atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a propensity score-based analysis,” was published…
DxTerity Diagnostics’ LIFT study supports the use of social media to rapidly enroll lupus patients for clinical trials, as well as ensuring the accuracy of self-reported data and home-based collection of blood samples, according to the company. The research supporting that assertion will be shown at the…
Identifying a person’s risk for lupus and possible need for early treatment might be aided by a new blood serum-based risk index created by researchers at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York. The index assesses the levels of certain anti-DNA antibodies — IgG…