Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center

The incidence of drug-induced lupus continues to rise as clinicians expand their therapeutic armamentarium. An estimated 15,000–30,000 cases of drug-induced lupus occur every year in the U.S. alone.1 It is a well-known, but rare, complication of commonly used medications, such as anti-hypertensive, anti-arrhythmic and anti-epileptic drugs, as well as biologic and immune checkpoint therapies.2,3 The… [Read More]

PRSYM—At the 2021 Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium (PRSYM), a session on lupus provided a robust discussion of recent advances in lupus treatments and genetic discoveries in pediatric rheumatology. Lupus Nephritis The first speaker was Shaun Jackson, MD, PhD, a pediatric nephrologist and rheumatologist and associate professor at Seattle Children’s. His presentation focused on state-of-the-art treatments in… [Read More]

Research has shown voclosporin in combination with MMF and low-dose steroids benefits patients with lupus nephritis, significantly increasing the speed of remission. New data from an ongoing extension study demonstrate a positive risk/benefit profile.... [Read More]

Patients with the rare DNASE1L3 biallelic null mutation present with childhood-onset disease that resembles lupus. This observation prompted research into how abnormalities in the enzyme DNASE1L3 are associated with lupus, with researchers finding autoantibody-mediated impairment of DNASE1L3 activity may be a common non-genetic mechanism leads to anti-dsDNA autoreactivity in SLE.... [Read More]

A recent study demonstrated that exposure to type I interferon contributes to the pathogenesis of SLE via the metabolic rewiring of CD8+ T cells, which promotes cell death.... [Read More]

Platelets may be a key source of mitochondrial antigens in systemic lupus erythematosus, according to a recent study.... [Read More]

Can machine learning aid clinicians in diagnosing systemic lupus erythematosus? Adamichou et al. designed an algorithm that uses classical features of lupus to simulate medical reasoning and identify lupus early in the disease process. They were able to validate the algorithm, which demonstrated high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy.... [Read More]

At the 2021 ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, Saira Sheikh, MD, associate pro­fessor of Medicine and director of the Rheumatology Lupus Clinic, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, provided an update on the past, present and future of the management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This year, hydroxychloroquine received a great deal of attention, given early… [Read More]

In December, the FDA approved belimumab, the first drug approved to treat lupus nephritis, an historic action that was rapidly followed in January by the approval of a second treatment for lupus nephritis, voclosporin. ... [Read More]

Rheumatologists are in the unique position of diagnosing and treating rare auto-inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Although systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) often has textbook presentations, it is a heterogeneous condition with a wide variety of disease manifestations.  In 2019, the European League Against Rheumatism and the ACR introduced new classification criteria to help diagnose this condition.1… [Read More]