News

Cardiac tamponade, the accumulation of fluid around the heart, affects nearly 6 percent of lupus patients in India, a new retrospective study shows. But researchers found new risk factors that predict this condition, which may help identify patients at risk. Treatment with high-dose immunosuppressives reduced the risk for fluid reaccumulation…

Researchers found two genetic variants on the interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) gene that predispose patients from India with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to develop kidney and hematological disease symptoms. The population-based study, “Predisposition of IL-1β (-511 C/T) polymorphism to renal and hematologic disorders in Indian SLE patients,” was…

A Phase 2 study assessing Gazyva (obinutuzumab) plus mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) or mycophenolic acid (MPA) as a treatment for lupus nephritis patients is currently enrolling participants. The Phase 2 NOBILITY trial (NCT02550652) will be conducted by Roche and Genentech to determine if the combination is better at treating kidney…

Inhibition of a natural enzyme that works as a sensor for virus and bacteria invasions may reduce inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, according to a recent study. The findings, reported in the study “Small molecule inhibition of cGAS reduces interferon expression in primary macrophages…

Nearly 1 in 10 lupus patients also develop pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a condition where the blood pressure is too high in the arteries that go from the heart to the lungs, according to researchers. But despite it being life-threatening, the condition may remain undiagnosed if there are…

The director of the Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children’s Health at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Virginia Pascual, received the Lupus Insight Prize for a project that shows great promise in increasing our understanding of the events that lead to lupus flares. The Lupus Research Alliance…

Karen H. Costenbader, MD, is the new chairwoman of the medical-scientific advisory council of the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA). Chairman of the LFA’s national board of directors, Conrad Gehrmann, announced the appointment earlier this week. Costenbader will lead the multi-disciplinary group of lupus experts to address unmet needs…

Rituxan (rituximab) could be a valid alternative to standard of care in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with neurological and psychiatric manifestations, a new Italian case report shows. The research, “Severe neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus successfully treated with rituximab: an alternative to standard of care,” was published in…

The United Kingdom’s first set of guidelines for care of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been published by researchers at the University of Birmingham. The guidelines produced by the British Society for Rheumatology were published in the journal Rheumatology. Produced for a range of healthcare…

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with or without lupus nephritis (LN) showed no clinical benefit when treated with Amgen‘s investigative anti-interferon-gamma antibody, AMG 811, in a Phase 1b  (NCT00818948) clinical trial. Some indicators of the disease dropped in response to the treatment, but less so in…