Results Are What Matter
A person with lupus lives with staggering unknowns.
Will I have a heart attack? Will the disease attack my
brain? Will my kidneys stop working? Will I stop
hurting—ever?
When the Lupus Research Institute was founded six
years ago, it was with the steely drive to find
answers, and quickly, to these kinds of questions. In
this issue of the Discovery eNewsletter, the results
of the
LRI's unique strategy to back only novel ideas in
lupus are stunningly apparent.
The LRI's Novel Research Task Force—a sterling peer
review group that holds grant proposals to the most
rigorous of scientific standards—saw the genius in Dr.
Betty Diamond's hypothesis of how lupus attacks the
brain and produces cognitive damage. They
recognized the untested potential in Dr. Bevra Hahn's
ideas on how lupus prematurely hardens heart
vessels. So far, they have seen the spark in more
than 55 research ideas that are high-risk yet rich
with potential for success and new treatment
development.
"I am convinced that without LRI funding," says Dr.
Diamond, "our research would not have gotten off
the ground." But it did, and the results of her
innovative research and that of dozens of other LRI
scientists are now streaming in, with promise for
tangible tests and treatments in their wake.
For the more than 1.5 million Americans living with
lupus and its countless unknowns, these are the
results that matter.
Best regards,
Peggy Dowd
President and CEO
Research Results Stream In
Major Breakthroughs from LRI-funded Scientists
Stress Hormone Enables Lupus Antibodies to
Alter
Behavior, Damage Cognition
The LRI
awarded Betty Diamond, M.D., Chief of the
Division of
Rheumatology at Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons, and colleagues the grant
that enabled her to first link lupus antibodies and
stress to cognitive impairment.
Now Dr.
Diamond and colleagues report that the penetration
of toxic antibodies into the brain likely leads not
just
to thinking problems, but also to changes in behavior.
Specifically, the disease's anti-DNA antibodies leak
into the amygdala, a brain region that governs fear
and emotional responses, and cause damage there.
Click to download the full
article in the Spring 2006 Discovery
Update
Lupus Artery-Hardening Cholesterol
Identified
A certain form of the
normally "good" high density lipoprotein (HDL)
cholesterol linked to cardiovascular health plays a
counterproductive role in people with lupus and
rheumatoid arthritis, promoting atherosclerosis
(hardening of the arteries) and heart disease in many
of these individuals. That was the groundbreaking
finding of LRI-funded research reported at the 2005
annual meeting of the American College of
Rheumatology in San Diego.
The menacing HDL form is pro-inflammatory HDL
(piHDL), report Bevra H. Hahn, M.D., Chief of
the Division of Rheumatology, Maureen McMahon,
M.D., and colleagues at UCLA's David Geffen
School of Medicine, and it can easily be measured
and, most importantly, treated. Women with lupus
are about 7 to 10 times more likely than women
without the disease to suffer a heart attack or
stroke. Click to download the full article in the
Spring 2006 Discovery Update
And More Research Results, Just In...
- A team from the University of Minnesota led by
LRI-funded investigator, Timothy W. Behrens,
M.D., has linked the development of lupus to the
presence of a single variation of a gene associated
with the protein interferon. This tantalizing link not
only gives clues to the origin of lupus, but could well
advance testing for it. Click to read the full
article
- With the help of LRI funds, Mariana Kaplan,
M.D. and colleagues at the University of
Michigan have found evidence that lupus worsens
when the very cells employed to mop up dying cells
in the body—specialized scavenger cells called
macrophages—fail to get disposed of properly. The
finding opens the door to possible strategies for
helping to slow disease in lupus patients.
Click to read the full
article
For more on these and other research findings,
or to get a Novel Research grant application,
visit
www.LupusResearchInstitute.org.
Joint LRI/ACR Fellows Advance Lupus Science
2003 Fellow Contributes to Groundbreaking Cholesterol Research
To encourage qualified physicians without
significant
prior research experience to develop a career in
lupus, the LRI joins with the American College of
Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation
(ACR REF) in annually awarding a three-year
fellowship grant for research training among lupus
investigators working in a clinical unit involved in
patient care.
Maureen McMahon, M.D., who
reported on the pro-inflammatory HDL findings with
UCLA's Dr. Bevra
Hahn (see story, above), was the first of
four scientists to participate in this mentored post-
doctoral fellowship program begun in 2003.
Maureen
McMahon,
M.D.
Fellow 2003
Assistant Clinical Professor of Rheumatology at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The Role
of Abnormal Protective HDL in S.L.E.
Dr. McMahon, who just completed her fellowship work
on the "Role of Abnormal Protective HDL in SLE,"
plans to continue her examination of accelerated
atherosclerosis in women with lupus. In an ongoing
LRI-funded study with Dr. Bevra Hahn, she will
attempt to determine if pro-inflammatory HDL is
associated with plaque in the carotid
arteries.
"The practice of constant questioning that is central
to research also has allowed me to approach patient
care from a different perspective, and has
encouraged me to think of new ways to help my
patients," says Dr. McMahon. "I strongly encourage
other physicians to engage in research."
Read more about the LRI/ACR REF Fellows at
www.LupusResearchInstitute.org/fellows.php:
Ingrid B. Avalos, M.D.
Fellow 2006
Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville,
TN
Aspirin Resistance in Rheumatic
Disease
More
Sonwoo Lee, M.D.
Fellow 2005
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los
Angeles
Immunomodulatory Effect of
Recombinant Galectin-1 in Animal Model of
Lupus
More
Joyce Hsu, M.D.
Fellow 2004
Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto,
California
Disease Presentation and Short-Term
Outcome of Pediatric S.L.E. in Asian-Americans,
Hispanics, and non-Hispanic Caucasians
More
Support Lupus Research
Donating to the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) makes
a real difference in the fight against lupus. Your
generous contributions help advance new science
and high-impact studies to prevent, treat and cure
this devastating disease.
Click to make an online donation
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Download the Discovery Update Newsletter
 Download the Spring 2006
Discovery Update
Newsletter today! Get the full story on the LRI's
groundbreaking research findings, plus read the
wrap-up of the first "Shady Ladies Luncheon" in
Wellington,
Florida featuring a celebrity sunglasses auction to
benefit lupus research.
Click here to download a copy of the Spring 2006 Discovery Update
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phone:
800-74-LUPUS
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"It is truly exciting—and I couldn't be
happier—
that it was our research funding that allowed
Dr. Diamond's novel hypothesis to become a
proven hypothesis! Keep making such great
selections. We're going to beat this disease yet!"
-- Terese Celine Payne
Lupus
Research Institute Donor
Mill Valley, California
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