Systemic Lupus Erythematosus News and Research

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Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the form of the disease that most people are referring to when they say "lupus." The word "systemic" means the disease can affect many parts of the body. The symptoms of SLE may be mild or serious. Although SLE usually first affects people between the ages of 15 and 45 years, it can occur in childhood or later in life as well.

Health care resource use and costs of H.P. Acthar® gel for multiple sclerosis relapse

Mallinckrodt plc, a leading global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced new retrospective health economic data on H.P. Acthar® Gel (repository corticotropin injection; RCI), which may be an option for the management of multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses.

6 Jul 2016

Enhanced activation of B cells may contribute to SLE severity in African Americans

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs. SLE severity is highly variable, and this variability is known to be partially dependent on ancestral background.

16 Jun 2016

Researchers find link between specific genetic pathway and development of mouth ulcers in lupus patients

The results of a study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress showed for the first time an association between a specific genetic pathway and the development of mouth ulcers in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

13 Jun 2016

Women with SLE may have increased cervical cancer risk

The results of a study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress found a doubled risk of pre-malignant cervical changes, and potentially also an increased risk of cervical cancer, among women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) compared to the general female population.

10 Jun 2016

Air pollution exposure may have direct role in triggering lupus among children and adolescents

The results of a study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress show for the first time that an individual's exposure to air pollution may have a direct role in triggering disease activity as well as airway inflammation in children and adolescents with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

10 Jun 2016

Study shows inhibition of SHP-2 enzyme can diminish lupus symptoms

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have identified an enzyme that is significantly elevated in mouse models of systemic lupus erythematosus and in blood samples of patients with lupus.

17 May 2016

CSL362 antibody targets, depletes pDCs and other cells implicated in SLE

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects multiple organ systems. Autoantibodies, which are produced by B cells, contribute to development of SLE.

6 May 2016

Newly published manuscripts enhance understanding of the immune system

MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that it has achieved a significant scientific milestone by publishing three manuscripts in Nature Immunology that advance the understanding of the immune system and highlight underlying mechanisms in two little-understood disease areas -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

26 Apr 2016

LAP defects may lead to lupus-like autoimmune disorder

A casual observation about size differences in mice has led to the discovery that defects in a process for digesting dead cells called LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) may lead to a lupus-like autoimmune disorder. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists led the research, which appears as an advance online publication today in the scientific journal Nature.

21 Apr 2016

Oxidized mitochondrial nucleoids released from neutrophils may contribute to SLE pathogenesis

Researchers at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research have discovered that the neutrophils of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients release oxidized DNA from their mitochondria that can stimulate an unwanted immune response.

19 Apr 2016

Cell-signaling protein holds key to understanding autoantibody formation in lupus patients

A signaling molecule called interferon gamma could hold the key to understanding how harmful autoantibodies form in lupus patients. The finding could lead to new treatments for the chronic autoimmune disease, said researchers at Penn State College of Medicine.

12 Apr 2016

Researchers use DNA sequencing technology to identify gene variants that affect susceptibility to SLE

Demonstrating the potential of precision medicine, an international study based at UT Southwestern Medical Center used next-generation DNA sequencing technology to identify more than 1,000 gene variants that affect susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

21 Mar 2016

Xencor begins XmAb5871 Phase 2 trials in patients with IgG4-RD and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Xencor, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, asthma and allergic diseases and cancer, today announced dosing the first patient in a Phase 2 trial of XmAb5871 in patients with IgG4-Related Disease (IgG4-RD).

8 Mar 2016

IMP, WEHI scientists successfully characterize central regulator of plasma cell function

Plasma cells play a key role in our immune system. Now scientists at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria, and at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne, Australia, succeeded in characterizing a central regulator of plasma cell function.

20 Jan 2016

Novel anti-inflammatory agents could control hyper-inflammatory responses to fungal infection

The most frequent fungal threat to humans, Candida albicans, is a common cause oral and genital infection. The fungal infections are often worsened by overwhelming inflammatory responses in the body and cause high mortality among risk groups. Umeå University doctoral student Ava Hosseinzadeh has discovered two novel anti-inflammatory agents, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory molecule, which could be used to control the hyper-inflammatory responses to the fungal infection.

12 Jan 2016

Mallinckrodt Study Shows Acthar® Reduces Disease Activity in Patients with Persistently Active Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Data presented yesterday by researchers for Mallinckrodt plc, a leading specialty biopharmaceutical company, suggest that H.P. Acthar® Gel (repository corticotropin injection) reduces certain measures of disease activity in patients with persistently active Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) who are receiving corticosteroid therapy.

10 Nov 2015

HSS researchers help identify lupus patients at increased risk of problem pregnancies

For years doctors have been advising patients with lupus not to get pregnant. It was assumed that the likelihood of pregnancy complications was too high in this population. However, ongoing work by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery is helping identify those lupus patients who are - and aren't - at increased risk of problem pregnancies.

10 Nov 2015

Researchers identify role of cGAS enzyme in autoimmune diseases

Activating an enzyme that sounds an alarm for the body's innate immune system causes two lethal autoimmune diseases in mice, while inhibiting the same enzyme rescues them, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

28 Oct 2015

XTL signs agreement with Yeda to amend development milestones for lupus treatment

XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of unmet clinical needs with a focus on treatments for autoimmune diseases, today announced that it has reached agreement with Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd. to amend the development milestones in the License Agreement signed between the parties in January 2014 for the development of hCDR1 for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

13 Oct 2015

Scientists calculate precise measurements of heritability in nine pediatric-onset autoimmune diseases

Scientists have calculated more precise measurements of heritability--the influence of underlying genes--in nine autoimmune diseases that begin in childhood. The research may strengthen researchers' abilities to better predict a child's risk for associated autoimmune diseases.

9 Oct 2015