Lupus is a condition in which the body's immune system attacks multiple organs. The disease is often hard to diagnose because the exact symptoms differ in each person and vary over time. Often patients with lupus experience "flares" when their symptoms worsen. Currently, blood tests for two proteins (anti-dsDNA and C3) are used to diagnose lupus; however, they do not always provide reliable readouts of disease activity. As a result, lupus is often underdiagnosed or overdiagnosed, which can lead to serious medical complications.
Researchers are searching for other molecules (eg, biomarkers) that better predict disease state. At TWRI, Principal Investigator Dr. Carolina Landolt-Marticorena and Senior Scientist Dr. Joan Wither have helped advance this global search. Their study, published in Rheumatology, found that immune molecules in the blood, known as anti-nucleosome antibodies, out-performed traditional biomarkers. Specifically, levels of anti-nucleosome antibodies were better able to predict the severity of lupus symptoms over time in individual patients.
Dr. Landolt-Marticorena comments, "While anti-nucleosome antibodies performed as well as widely used biomarkers, their real advantage is that levels of this biomarker actually mirror changes in disease activity over time. Thus, anti-nucleosome may serve as a valuable personalized readout of disease, leading to better informed and more effective treatment decisions."
This study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Alliance for Lupus Research. PR Fortin is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Multidisciplinary Health Research.
Anti-nucleosome antibodies outperform traditional biomarkers as longitudinal indicators of disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Li T, Prokopec SD, Morrison S, Lou W, Reich H, Gladman D, Urowitz M, Scholey J, Fortin PR, Boutros PC, Wither J, Landolt-Marticorena C. Rheumatology. 2014 Sep 5. [Pubmed abstract]
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