Lupus Science and Medicine Podcast

Biomarker reduction indicates treatment response to Belimumab

Dr. Anna Wolska from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Dr. Andrea Fava from Johns Hopkins University about Belimumab treatment in lupus nephritis. Dr Fava elucidates on the correlation between the decrease in urinary CD163 levels and the response to Belimumab treatment in Lupus Nephritis trials. The conversation provides important insights into the efficacy of this treatment option and potential biomarker use for personalized and precision medicine in the future.
 
Read the article: dx.doi.org/10.1136/lupus-2022-000763

Mesenchymal stromal cells: a potential new SLE treatment option?

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Dr Gary Gilkeson from the Medical University of South Carolina about a phase I trial into the use of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) in refractory lupus patients in the USA, following impressive results of clinical improvement resulting from this therapy in China.
The trial indicated that infusions of MSCs derived from the umbilical cord are safe and may be effective in treating mild to moderate systemic lupus erythematosus, with minimal adverse effects.
Access the article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/lupus-2022-000704

Using patient registries to estimate SLE incidence rate in the USA

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Dr Peter Izmirly from New York University and Dr Elizabeth Ferucci from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, both in the USA.
They discuss the establishment of a network of population-based lupus patient registries in the USA and how these have been used to estimate the incidence rate of systemic lupus erythematosus using standardised data stratified by sex, race and ethnicity.
Access the article: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000614

Defining remission in systemic lupus erythematosus

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Professor Ronald van Vollenhoven from the Amsterdam University Medical Centers in the Netherlands and Dr Cynthia Aranow from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York, USA.
They discuss the efforts of the DORIS international task force to agree on a single definition of remission in systemic lupus erythematosus, which they hope will ensure that clinicians, patients and researchers in the field are all working towards the same outcome.
Access the article: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000538

What’s the relationship between self-efficacy and quality of life in SLE patients?

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America talks to Dr Cristina Drenkard from Emory University and Dr Teresa Brady from Clarity Consulting and Communications, both based in Atlanta, USA.
They discuss their paper on the relationship between levels of self-efficacy and health behaviours and outcomes in black women with SLE. Their study specifically evaluated the associations between age, educational level and depression in SLE patients and the degree of pain and fatigue they experienced. These findings may help predict who might benefit most from self-efficacy-enhancing interventions to improve quality of life.
Access the article: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/9/1/e000566

Challenging but achievable: reaching Low Lupus Disease Activity State (LLDAS) in childhood-onset SLE

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America talks to Dr Sylvia Kamphuis and Dr Javad Wahadat from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam in the Netherlands about aiming for a Low Lupus Disease Activity State (LLDAS) in children with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). They outline the difference between LLDAS and clinical remission (CR), and discuss how LLDAS may be a more achievable target for patients than CR that nevertheless still brings significant clinical benefits in terms of decreasing damage accrual and improving health-related quality of life.
Access the paper here: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000571

Could a high fiber diet positively impact the gut microbiome of SLE patients?

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Professor Iryna Kulyk from Indiana University in the USA and Professor Martin Kriegel from the University of Münster in Germany and Yale University in the USA. They discuss their study, presented at the Lupus 21st Century conference in September 2021, on the influence of the consumption of resistant starch (a type of dietary fiber) on the composition of the gut microbiota of lupus patients.
Access the abstract here: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/8/Suppl_2/A63.2.abstract

A new biomarker for cognitive dysfunction in SLE?

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Dr Erik Anderson and Dr Meggan Mackay from the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York in the USA. They discuss their study into imbalances in quinolinic acid and kynurenic acid levels in the brain in SLE patients, and propose that the ratio between these two metabolites could be used as a new biomarker or therapeutic target for cognitive dysfunction.
Access the paper here: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000559

Screening for cognitive dysfunction in SLE patients

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Jennifer He from the University of Western Ontario in Canada about her research into using neuropsychological battery tests to determine the degree of cognitive dysfunction in lupus patients. A high degree of variability in performance across multiple tests (a high dispersion score) is associated with a higher risk of cognitive dysfunction, so this can be a useful screening/diagnostic tool.
Access the paper here: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000511

Highlights of ACR Convergence 2021

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Dr Jill Buyon, one of LSM's Editors-in-Chief, about the highlights of ACR Convergence 2021, which was held virtually on 3-9 November (https://www.rheumatology.org/Annual-Meeting).