Within the framework of World Lupus Day, on May 10, the Roche Foundation Institute informs about the potential that precision medicine has on Lupus, a heterogeneous disease that manifests itself very differently in each individual.
This variability is observed in:
- Los symptomsboth between patients and in intensity. They can vary over time (pain, fatigue, skin rashes, etc.).
- Las causes, They are not well known, although it is known of the involvement of an interaction between genetic and hormonal factors, as well as environmental (smoking, exposure to chemicals, drug use, infections, etc.).
- He disease course. There are periods of greater activity and symptoms (outbreaks), and mild periods of inactivity oractivity. The frequency and intensity is difficult prediction.
- Los affected organswhich varies between individuals, so a personalized approach is key.
Lupus types
In addition, there are different types of lupus: systemic erythematosus, the cutaneous, that induced by medications and neonatal lupus. These are the characteristics of each one:
How would precision medicine against lupus act?
Personalized precision medicine, in general, offers more effective treatments by identifying and addressing the specific manifestation of pathology in each patient, reducing side effects by predicting individual risks, improving quality of life by better controlling symptoms and preventing organic damage through early and personalized interventions.
Given the great variability of Lupus, personalized precision medicine seeks to go beyond the symptoms to understand the specific processes that lead to the development of the disease in each patient and thus be able to make more precise and individualized decisions.
The individualized analysis of genetics, the immune profile, the lifestyle and environmental factors allows:
- Stratify patients for its underlying biological mechanisms, beyond superficial symptoms.
- Diagnose more precision The typode lupus that each patient suffers.
- Select treatments with greater probability of success and less adverse effects.
- Predict the course of the disease and the risk of specific complications depending on each patient.
- Monitor the response and effectiveness of treatment through changes in biomarkers.
CAR-T therapy against lupus
An example of medical innovation and precision medicine against lupus are clinical trials with CAR-T therapy, used so far in blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphomas and multiple myeloma.
The University of Navarra clinic participates in different clinical trials that seek to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy to treat autoimmune diseases, such as lupus.
T or lymphocyte cells are cells of the immune system that are formed from stem cells in the bone marrow, they are our defenses against infections, but they can also become against us.
CAR-T cell therapy or T Lymphocyte therapy with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) consists in genetically modifying these immune cells.
This cell immunotherapy treatment is a procedure that consists of extracting blood from the patient to separate its components and obtain a type of cells that are modified in the laboratory by genetic engineering before being transfused back to the person’s body to combat the disease.
At present, patients with these autoimmune pathologies are treated with immunosuppressive medications to control the disease avoiding shoots, but without healing it in most cases.
According to Dr. Enrique Ornilla, a specialist at the Rheumatology Service of the Navarra Clinic: “The new therapy that is investigated would be especially aimed at patients who have not properly responded to conventional treatments or who are dependent on them in the long term.”
In addition, he adds, not only people would benefit with Lupus, “but also people with other autoimmune diseases, such as vasculitis, scleroderma or myositis, the latter even in pediatric ages.”
Campaign about lupus: “Butterflies do not disappear”
Within the framework of the “World Lupus Day”, on May 10, the Spanish Rheumatology Foundation, in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Lupus (Felupus), the Madrid Association of Lupus (Amelya) and the Biopharmaceutical Company GSK have launched an awareness and visibility campaign: “The butterflies do not disappear”.
In Spain, it is estimated that more than 100,000 people have lupus, 70 % with the systemic erythematosus. Of these, more than half take with “Rash Malar”, one of the most typical skin manifestations.
It is a photosensitive lesion that cures with infiltrated macules or plates that converge on the cheeks and back of the nose and has the form of “butterfly wings”, hence it is one of the symbols of this disease. The butterfly also symbolizes the resilience of those who live with the disease.
