Poverty and race can cast shadows over lupus patients’ health outcomes, according to two studies. One study showed a connection between poverty and worse lupus-related health problems over time. The other showed that African-American and Hispanic women with lupus have higher rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes than whites. The poverty-related…
A partnership between two U.S. medical organizations, the Directors of Health Promotion & Education (DHPE) and the Chi Eta Phi Sorority of nurses and nursing students, is raising awareness of lupus among healthcare providers by holding education sessions at all five Chi Eta Phi regional conferences. The latest regional…
The reason why kidney disease strikes a lot of people with lupus has to do with the kind of disease lupus is, according to a Texas kidney expert who was interviewed about the connection between the conditions. Lupus is an autoimmune disease. The immune system produces antibodies to counter such a…
The French immunotherapy vaccine developer Neovacs joined with Lupus Europe to raise awareness of the disease on World Lupus Day yesterday. Neovacs develops vaccines for lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Lupus Europe is an umbrella organization of 24 patient associations in 22 countries. Paris-based Neovacs developed its proprietary Kinoid technology to target diseases associated…
Despite progress in diagnosing and managing lupus, 43 percent of those with the disease worry about the physical inactivity and social isolation it causes, finds a new survey released May 10 — World Lupus Day — by the World Lupus Federation (WLF). The Twitter poll, conducted among 2,048 people in…
The New York Legislature has passed a resolution recognizing Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proclamation of May as Lupus Awareness Month in the state. One of the resolution sponsors was the head of New York’s lower house, or Assembly, Fred W. Thiele Jr., whose daughter Josephine has lupus. The resolution builds on…
Lupus patients should be checked for heart-valve abnormalities because the disease increases the risk of the heart condition, according to a study. Earlier research identified anti-phospholipid antibodies as a risk factor for this heart condition. The new study shows that systemic lupus erythematosus poses a risk in patients without the antibodies.
The Lupus Research Alliance is marking Lupus Awareness Month in May with a Breaking through for YOU campaign. “For us, May is more than 31 days of just raising awareness,” Margaret G. Dowd, the alliance’s co-CEO, said in a press release. “It is the time to provide the real…
Portuguese researchers discovered a new cellular mechanism that may explain how lupus and other autoimmune diseases develop. Their study, “T follicular helper and T follicular regulatory cells have different TCR specificity,” appeared in the journal Nature Communications. The immune system offers protection from pathogens and diseased cells.
Booming sales of Benlysta (belimumab) to treat adults with active, autoantibody-positive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have led British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to invest $139 million in its manufacturing plant in Rockville, Maryland. The facility, which will expand the company’s bulk substance production by nearly 50 percent, will produce a new subcutaneous, self-injectable form…