At a session of ACR Convergence 2024, speakers shared key elements of the new guideline on the screening, treatment and overall management of lupus nephritis in children and adults.1 This guideline attempts to balance the risks of medication side effects with the important goal of preserving kidney function. This is the ACR’s first lupus guideline…
As part of a session on lupus nephritis at ACR Convergence 2023, Simone Appenzeller, MD, PhD, shared perspectives on the importance of biopsy to inform the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the condition, with an emphasis on childhood disease. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of lupus nephritis is perhaps even more important for children than for…
In late July 2022, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved belimumab (Benlysta) for the treatment of children with active lupus nephritis aged 5 to 17 years old receiving standard therapy.1 Despite recent advances in treatment options for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), those with kidney involvement may develop endstage renal disease and…
In summer 2024, two phase 3 studies were released with promising findings for the treatment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and those with lupus nephritis. SLE Disease Activity Dapirolizumab pegol is a novel, investigational, Fc-free anti-CD40L agent for people living with moderate to severe SLE.1 The randomized, double-blind, parallel-group PHOENYCS GO trial (N=321)…
Lupus nephritis is one of the leading causes of mortality for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and patients with both SLE and end-stage renal disease have standardized mortality ratios more than 60 times that of patients with SLE with normal kidney function.1 The good news: Rheumatologists now have not one, but two approved options…
Lupus has always had a reputation for being a wild, unrestrained and enigmatic entity. In fact, the very name lupus comes from the Latin word for wolf, a gift from our Roman predecessors who saw a resemblance between lupus rashes and a wolf’s bite. Given the limitations of immunology back then, it is an incredibly…
“B cells are central orchestraters of autoimmune disease by contributing to autoantibody production, antigen presentation and cytokine production,” says Georg Schett, MD, head of the Department of Medicine 3 (Rheumatology and Immunology) of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. “B cells can be inhibited by monoclonal antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) expressing cells.” Dr. Schett…
Although dryness and other symptoms of Sjögren’s disease continue to vex patients, the prospect of new treatments and a recent name change demonstrate advances in patient care.
Understanding the role of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in gout flares points to potential of NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors as new treatment option.
Incoming Arthritis & Rheumatology Editor-in-Chief Dr. S. Louis Bridges Jr., MD, PhD, discusses his path to rheumatology and outlines his vision for the journal.