New research pinpoints a protein as a potential cause of lupus in females. The study shows that reduced expression of the protein Blimp-1 is associated with an increase in the protein CTSS (cathepsin S), which causes the immune system to attack female lupus patients’ healthy cells. Although further research is needed, these result…
The German Research Foundation has awarded a 13-million-euro grant to a consortium that is trying to develop treatments for autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus. The four-year grant, equivalent to $14.7 million, was to the TRR130 Transregional Collaborative Research Center, which is working on B-cells: Immunity and Autoimmunity. The…
Neovacs’ Phase 2b clinical trial of an interferon immunotherapy for lupus is going according to plan, the company announced after an independent review board declined to recommend modifications to the study. The trial is evaluating interferon (IFN)-alpha kinoid immunotherapy as a treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus. One hundred seventy-eight patients with moderate…
NKTR-358 bolsters T-cells’ ability to respond to immune inflammatory disorders such as lupus, according to a preclinical-trial study. Nektar Therapeutics said its therapy increased levels of a subset of T-cells known as regulatory T-cells and reduced inflammation. It also generated fewer side effects than immunosuppressant drugs. The company presented the findings at the…
Low levels of red blood cells (anemia) and lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, are the most frequent hematological disorders in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), according to a new Turkish study. The study, “Detailed features of hematological involvement and medication-induced cytopenia in systemic lupus erythematosus…
A study has identified several predictors of poor pregnancy outcomes in women with lupus, including disease flares less than six months before conception and use of immunosuppressants. The research, “Predictors of poor obstetric outcome in women with systemic lupus erythematosus: a 10-year experience of a university hospital,”…
Older lupus patients may be at risk of developing a form of the disease that affects arms and legs, according to a study. The most common manifestation of the peripheral nervous system form of system lupus erythematosus, known as PNS-SLE, is polyneuropathy, or damage to the nerves that control the arms, hands,…
A biomarker of hardened arteries makes it eight times more likely that a lupus patient will develop a cardiovascular disease, according to a study. The presence of the marker could prompt lupus patients with no symptoms of heart disease, or who appear to be at low risk of developing it,…
Korean patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) face a greater risk of autoimmune thyroid disease, a nationwide population-based study using health insurance claims data showed. The study, “Increased risk of thyroid diseases in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A nationwide population-based study in Korea,” recently appeared in the journal PLoS…
New mothers with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are less likely to breastfeed their infants, or to do so for a shorter span of time, than are woman without this disease — despite guidelines favoring breastfeeding throughout a baby’s first months of life, a study in Argentina reports. The study, “…