PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Lupus affects more than 1.5 million people nationwide, and though until now its root cause has remained unclear, an exciting new discovery by Northwestern Medicine brings a bit more clarity, as one has now been identified.
Just this month, a molecular defect was found, which could possibly help reverse the disease and lead a pathway to a potential cure. While this is a definite step forward, Dr. Seth Berney, chief rheumatologist with Eastern Virginia Medical School, believes there’s still a long road ahead before a cure is found.
“What this should do is provide enthusiasm and hope for individuals with lupus,” Berney said. “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but certainly in the future that medical science is helping to figure out some of the causes of lupus against which targets can be identified and then therapeutics developed.”
Lupus makes immune systems become overreactive, resulting in an attack on the body’s tissues. Researchers have been struggling for centuries to pinpoint what causes this response. The recent study is linking environmental factors as a major cause.
“I don’t think it’s as simple as that,” he said. “It also means that there are other influences outside of genetics that contribute to the development. If it were purely genetic, when one identical twin has lupus, the other identical twins should have lupus because they’re genetically identical. And so, when we see that there’s that disparity, we have to invoke environmental factors.”
According to Berney, what’s truly being recognized from Northwestern’s research is the identification of one abnormality, but it’s essentially one of many. The abnormality reflected in a specific number of patients is said to either increase the immune system’s activity or prevent the immune system from being inactivated, which he also said could possibly help heal the immune system.
“So eventually, I suspect lupus will be called lupus type 1, lupus type 2, lupus type 3, lupus type 4, where they each will look similar,” he said. “They will each have an underlying defect in the immune system that allows type 1 to develop, type 2 to develop, type 3 to develop. And those will each be treated differently.”
While there is still no cure for lupus, Berney said those with the illness can anticipate to have a normal life expectancy.