July 10, 2024 – Researchers have identified a possible cause for Lupus This could lead on to a cure for this life-threatening disease and possibly prevent the immune system from mistakenly launching a near-complete attack on itself.
The Results were published on Wednesday in Nature. The researchers compared and experimented with blood samples from 19 individuals with lupus and blood samples from 19 healthy people. The team used several molecular biology techniques to achieve their conclusions, including CRISPR gene editing and a special approach to sequencing ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is present in all living cells and is analogous in structure to DNA.
The researchers concluded that the lupus patients' blood samples showed a disrupted body process related to environmental pollutants, bacteria and metabolites (substances created by chemical changes within the body that convert food into energy). When the researchers altered the blood samples for this process, the lupus-causing cells gave the impression to be reprogrammed into a unique cell type that will promote protection and repair within the body.
“We identified a fundamental imbalance in the immune response of patients with lupus and defined specific mediators that can correct this imbalance and thus dampen the pathological autoimmune response,” said co-author Deepak Rao, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medication at Harvard Medical School and rheumatologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in an announcement.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease by which the immune system attacks healthy cells of organs or tissues. Officially referred to as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Characteristic symptom is a harmful inflammation that may affect the skin, blood, joints, kidneys, brain, heart and lungs. An estimated 1.5 million people within the United States are affected by lupus. The treatments currently in use are likely to severely compromise the body's immune system, increasing the likelihood of other health problems.
“To date, every therapy for lupus has been a blunt instrument. It is comprehensive immunosuppression,” said co-author Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD, associate professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a dermatologist at Northwestern Medicine, within the statement. “By identifying a cause of this disease, we have found a potential cure that does not have the side effects of current therapies.”