Defects in the Ets1 gene in T-cells, immune system cells with known links to inflammation, caused the uncontrolled expansion of some of these cells in mice and induced systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) autoimmunity in the animals, researchers report. Blocking a cytokine known as interleukin (IL)-4 suppressed this cellular expansion and eased…
A large Chinese cohort study has shown that anti-pentraxin 3 (PTX3) auto-antibodies were less prevalent in lupus nephritis patients with active disease than in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients without renal involvement, and was linked to less severe renal damage. These findings confirm the protective role of anti-PTX3 auto-antibodies in lupus nephritis. The…
Researchers at New York University School of Medicine discovered that an enzyme’s failure to digest the DNA from dying cells can trigger the production of the auto-antibodies that are the hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The findings were published in Cell, in a study titled “Digestion of Chromatin in…
Temple University School of Medicine researchers have discovered how infections cause lupus flares. In a study funded by the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) and the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), Stefania Galluci, PhD, and her team identified a mechanism through which a specific type…
Researchers from Emory University School of Medicine have identified and defined a set of autoantibody-producing cells responsible for the autoimmunity profiles observed in lupus erythematosus patients. The research paper, entitled “Diversity, cellular origin and autoreactivity of antibody-secreting cell population expansions in acute systemic lupus erythematosus” was published in Nature…
A new study showed that mice deficient in regulatory T cells develop systemic autoimmune disease similar to lupus. The study entitled “Regulatory T cell deficient scurfy mice develop systemic autoimmune features resembling lupus-like disease” was published in Arthritis Research & Therapy. Scurfy mice do…