Baylor receives $2.9 million to study lupus

Affecting more than one million people in the US, lupus erythematosus, commonly known as lupus or SLE, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person’s body is attacked by his/her own immune system, which leads to damage of healthy tissues and cells.

Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, a component of Baylor Research Institute (BRI), has made significant advancements in the understanding of lupus, including the finding that increased levels of interferon alpha, an immune system protein, may be linked to symptom expression in the disease.

“An overabundance of interferon alpha is responsible for many of the changes in gene expression levels that correlate with lupus symptoms,” said Dr Jacques Banchereau, director of Baylor Institute for Immunology Research. “Reducing the serum level of interferon alpha with an antibody could provide a successful treatment strategy for lupus patients.”

Dr Banchereau received a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases and Alliance (NIAID), to study groups of immune system cells, called T cells, to see how they differ in lupus patients and healthy individuals. It is hoped the research will allow certain types of T cells to be used as early predictors for disease activity. It could also lead to new treatment options that target these T cells.

Also of the Baylor Institute, Dr Virginia Pascual received a $1 million research award from the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR). The goal of her project is to validate the disease ‘signatures’ that they have identified in the blood of lupus patients. These signatures represent altered gene expression patterns that differentiate lupus patients from healthy individuals. Her team also plans to develop a simple, inexpensive test that can be used to assess disease severity in lupus patients.