Research from Around the world
Lupus News
Twelve weeks of aerobic exercise improved cardiovascular and respiratory fitness in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but without positive changes in arterial stiffness that was this small study’s main goal.
Results also found no increase in signs of inflammation or oxidative stress in the exercise group compared to a control group urged to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
People who have lupus and systemic vasculitis have weakened immune systems that are more susceptible to infections. Side effects of medication intended to help manage these diseases, specifically steroids and chemotherapeutics, can weaken the immune system further.
Specifically, they are at an increased risk for varicella-zoster virus (VZV) reactivation. VZV is the virus, which can cause chickenpox (varicella) and shingles (zoster). Once a person recovers from chickenpox, VZV remains inactive in the body. VZV can reactivate and cause a painful rash called shingles. There are many reasons why the virus can reactivate.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) questionnaire is an easy-to-administer, inexpensive, effective screening tool that can identify patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who might be at risk for cognitive dysfunction (CD) and might benefit from additional neuropsychiatric assessment, according to data published in Lupus.
Good oral hygiene prevents cavities. Now, new research suggests it also may make a difference in preventing and managing lupus and other diseases.
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientists Umesh Deshmukh and Harini Bagavant have found a link between gum disease and lupus, an autoimmune disease.
Lupus nephritis is recurring less frequently among patients with end-stage renal disease who undergo kidney transplant, possibly due to improved immunosuppression, according to data presented by Debendra N. Pattanaik, MBBS, MD, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.Lupus nephritis is recurring less frequently among patients with end-stage renal disease who undergo kidney transplant, possibly due to improved immunosuppression, according to data presented by Debendra N. Pattanaik, MBBS, MD, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Nitro-fatty acids — a type of fatty molecule naturally produced in the body — could act as natural inhibitors of the stimulator of IFN genes (STING), a protein involved in inflammatory diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), according to a study.
The study, “Nitro-fatty acids are formed in response to virus infection and are potent inhibitors of STING palmitoylation and signaling,” was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
A pilot clinical trial showed that bioelectronic medicine treatment was effective in reducing fatigue and pain in lupus patients. The researchers also saw a decrease in arthritis. A pilot study is a small-scale preliminary study that examines the feasibility of an approach that researchers intend to use in a larger scale study.
Organs affected by autoimmune disease could be fighting back by "exhausting" immune cells that cause damage using methods similar to those used by cancer cells to escape detection, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
In The Lancet, Ronald van Vollenhoven and colleagues report a positive multicentre double-blind phase 2 randomised, placebo-controlled trial with ustekinumab, an anti-interleukin-12/23 (IL-12/23) monoclonal antibody, in 102 patients aged 18–75 years with active systemic lupus erythematosus (93 women and nine men).
Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in remission for five or more years are at a lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those with shorter remission times or who fail to enter remission, a retrospective study reports.
The study, “Prolonged remission is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a GIRRCS (Gruppo Italiano di Ricerca in Reumatologia Clinica e Sperimentale) study,” was published in Clinical Rheumatology.
