HQ Team
July 16, 2024: A new study by Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers has identified a possible cause for the development of systemic lupus erythematosus. This finding can lead to a potential breakthrough in reversing the condition.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease caused by defective T cell–B cell interactions. The disease can cause severe damage to multiple organs, including the kidneys, brain, and heart. The current treatments are restrictive and come with side effects compromising the immune system’s ability to fight infections.
For the study, the researchers examined the blood of 19 people with SLE and compared it to those of healthy individuals.
Aryl hydrocarbon receptor
Their research revealed an imbalance in the immune systems of lupus patients. They found that Type I interferon modulates a receptor called aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) which leads to increased production of a subset of T cells that activate B cells, resulting in an increase in inflammation.
“This basic research, uncovering how interferon drives abnormal T and B cell interactions that cause the abnormal autoimmunity of lupus, is really exciting. It was very careful, well-conducted, hypothesis-driven research, which now suggests a new way that we might treat lupus, targeting this abnormal pathway by which a certain type of T cells stimulate B cells, which are the producers of autoantibodies in lupus. We have new drugs for the treatment of lupus because of basic research such as this, uncovering how the T and B lymphocytes interact and identifying new targets for drugs to interrupt abnormal signaling,” said Karen Costenbader, MD, MPH, one of the study’s authors and Chair of the Lupus Foundation of America’s Medical-Scientific Advisory Council.
The scientists demonstrated that by activating the AHR pathway or limiting excessive interferon in the blood, they could reduce the number of these harmful cells. The researchers reprogrammed these lupus-causing cells into Th22 cells, which halted the damage caused by the autoimmune response.
The new research will help in delivering targeted treatments to lupus patients without the harmful side-effects associated with current therapies.
At least five million people worldwide have a form of lupus. Lupus strikes mostly women of childbearing age and almost 90% of sufferers are women. Systematic Lupus accounts for approximately 70 percent of all cases of lupus.
