The latest SLE news offers real hope. Rapid advancements in all types of autoimmune research have contributed much to scientists’ body of knowledge, but particularly with lupus, news from prominent research teams indicates the focus has shifted from controlling symptoms to preventing development and progression.
This is partially due to organizations such as The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association and The Alliance for Lupus Research, which fund scientific studies dedicated to finding a cure. Additionally, groups such as the SLE Lupus Foundation and the Lupus Foundation of America sponsor fundraisers and grass-roots campaigns, to provide additional funding for lupus research. These groups are also committed to educating patients and their families and increasing public awareness concerning the disease.
It has long been understood that lupus is a disorder of the immune system itself, rather than a disease created by an outside agent (such as a virus.) The lymph glands, which create antibodies to target foreign organisms in the body, begin to make antibodies that attack healthy tissue. The question is, why? Why does this autoimmune reaction occur in some people and not others? Why would the immune system suddenly decide that the body itself is a threat?
Specialized Immune Cells
The latest news on lupus goes a long way toward answering these questions. It concerns the changes that take place, at a molecular level, to stimulate lupus autoantibody production. Antibodies themselves are made of particular proteins known as cytokines; the cells in the immune system that utilize them are a type of white blood cell called a lymphocyte. The lymphocytes rely on cytokines to identify harmful organisms in the body. Other cytokines are responsible for limiting the immune response; in normal circumstances, they “turn off” the immune reaction when it is no longer needed. Scientists believe that lupus is partly due to abnormally low levels of this second type of cytokine, an immune-response regulator known as IL-2 (Interleukin-2.)
These regulatory cytokines belong to a type of lymphocyte called a T regulatory cell. What seems especially significant about T regulatory cells is an ability they have to “remember” an earlier exposure to autoantibodies. More importantly, T regulatory cells will counter an overactive immune response more effectively when exposed a second time. It may soon be possible to raise these “memory” cells outside the body and introduce them to lupus patients to help bolster their natural regulatory response.
More and more, SLE news points to a bright future for people with lupus. As scientific and medical understanding of the disease increases, treatments will become more effective, relying less on drugs that suppress the immune system and more on techniques that return it to a proper state of equilibrium. From there, it might not be long before lupus is eradicated, once and for all.
