In 1969, Martha Lovato passed away from renal failure due to complications of lupus. Martha was 18 years old and survived only two years following her diagnosis. At the time, Martha’s disease was still a mystery to many physicians and researchers. Her treatment options were limited. In fall 2004, after an unprecedented battle with shingles…
The following summary regarding use of tacrolimus (TAC) in lupus nephritis highlights a number of debatable points. Although the role of TAC in lupus nephritis remains unproved for North American populations, it might be an excellent option in some clinical situations. These situations include lupus flare during pregnancy and also for lupus nephritis when the…
SAN FRANCISCO—In a presentation on advances in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at the California Rheumatology Alliance 2016 Medical & Scientific Meeting in May, Maria Dall’Era, MD, director of the Lupus Clinic and Rheumatology Clinical Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, discussed the range of treatments that have been identified…
CHICAGO—A lupus expert recently issued a call for action to improve outcomes of lupus clinical trials, a field that has had so many failed potential therapies that he said it seems to be “cursed.” Richard Furie, MD, chief of rheumatology at Northwell Health in New York, said at the ACR’s 2016 State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium that…
We report a case of a 27-year-old woman who was initially diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), had features of scleroderma and was subsequently found to have lymph node biopsy consistent with multicentric Castleman disease (MCD). She also had serologic evidence of acute Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection (vs. reactivation of EBV). The occurrence of MCD…
When I began my tenure as ACR president this past November, I posited that it “takes a village” to grow and succeed in rheumatology’s rapidly changing environment. The ACR village includes volunteers who represent a diverse leadership pipeline reflecting the demographics of our younger members. It also includes the international rheumatology community that accounts for…
I read with interest the Diagnostic View (TR, April), which, according to the authors, represented a case of rhupus, an overlap syndrome of RA and SLE. I challenge this view. My arguments: In the case of erosive RA, typically erosive changes are seen at MTP joints other than MTP1 (e.g., MTP5). In addition, the erosive…
Spotting the signs of autoimmunity as early as possible is often viewed as a positive goal for rheumatologic research. The premise: Patients may begin treatment years before their disease is active and destroying joints and tissue. Although much progress has been made in identifying early stages of rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis, the clues are not as…
The serine-threonine protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) enzyme is critical for regulatory T cells to function—without it, they don’t have the ability to suppress effector T cells and can’t protect against autoimmunity, according to new research published in Nature Immunology. Researchers found that conditional knockout mice—in which PP2A expression is knocked out only in regulatory T cells—developed…
SAN FRANCISCO—A 40-year-old woman shows up in the clinic with scarring alopecia, with an area of hyperpigmentation on the rim of her scalp, extending from just behind the temple to behind her ears. An examination with a dermatoscope shows hyperkeratotic follicular plugging. The case—in this example, the discoid form of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (DLE)—is one…