United States: The number is nearly more than 200,000 grown-ups in the U.S. are allowed to have systemic lupus erythematosus which is the most common form of lupus. This condition, where the vulnerable system attacks the healthy tissues and can lead the organ damage, common pain, fatigue and facial rash among other symptoms.
Scientists and health experts have been working for a long period of time to understand the factors that lead to lupus, which majorly affects women and girls.
What actually lupus is?
Lupus is like a hero turning into a villain, with the immune system which actually attacking your body and that’s a paradox.
New research exemplifies that immune cells can be turned back into protectors to help heal damaged tissue and normally, T cells call B cells to fight off infections. In lupus, this process goes wrong, and B cells attack healthy areas like the skin, lungs, and kidney.
Research Insights and Potential Treatments
As reported in statnews, many lupus patients also have another imbalance here according the data. Compared to those without autoimmunity and people with lupus have fewer of the T cells that make a protein called interleukin-22 which could help with the inflammation and wound healing.
It’s actually a double disadvantage which lowers the levels of the helpful cells and higher level of the damage-promoting ones said Jaehyuk Choi, who is an associate professor of dermatology, biochemistry and molecular genetics at the Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
“We wondered if there was a molecular switch that sort of controlled how these cells can toggle between these two,” said Choi, senior author of the research published Wednesday in Nature. With a team of researchers and fellow senior author Deepak Rao, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Choi found the switch.
Future Directions in Lupus Treatment
There are some certain lupus drugs such as anifrolumab which target the problem by stopping interferon. But addressing AHR itself may make for a more “surgical” approach to treatment, Choi said. For a long time, Lupus drugs have broadly suppressed the immune system, which can be effective but also cause unwanted side effects and health issues.
Clearer insights into what causes lupus could help drug developers take a more narrow approach. Rao and Choi’s study “nominates a new strategy” focused on activating AHR.
More research is needed to figure out if IL-22 T cells are truly good and wound-healing for everyone with lupus, and whether this approach could be turned into a viable treatment for lupus or other autoimmune diseases.