DNA sequence that causes severe cases of lupus identified

A team of Italian researchers have identified a 'genetic accelerator' called HS1.2, which enhances the production of the pathological antibodies that attack the patient's body rather than defend it.

The researchers, from Sacred Heart Catholic University in Rome, combined the antibodies to the accelerator of the car, colloquially renaming them 'autoantibodies', which describes the effect HS1.2 has on the activity of some critical genes of the immune system involved in the disease.

It is hoped the research will lead to more targeted and effective therapies against Lupus (systemic lupus erythemathosus), in particular the most severe cases.

Lupus can cause a variety of symptoms, including joint pain, fever, skin rashes, hair loss, Raynaud's disease, anaemia, nephritis.

In many cases, Lupus is more aggressive and the origin of this particular severity was, until now, unclear. Therapies currently used are based on cortisone, anti-malarial drugs and immunosuppressants (azathioprine, mycophenolate, cyclophosphamide) and biologic drugs (rituximab, Belimumab).

Professor Gianfranco Ferraccioli, head of the Rheumatology Unit of Rheumatology and Internal Medicine of the Catholic University, said: "Our results suggest that new drugs that turn off the enhancer HS1.2, or inhibit its effect on NF-KB, can stop the disease without the need for immunosuppressive drugs or other therapies with many side effects."

Five million people world-wide currently suffer from lupus. 

Posted by Fiona Griffiths