Publications
Find coverage of the latest original articles on Lupus, focusing on those with data on therapeutic interventions and those that have clinical impact.
June 2025
Deucravacitinib, an oral, selective, allosteric, tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor, in patients with active SLE: efficacy on patient-reported outcomes in a phase II randomised trial
Lupus Sci Med. 2025;12(1):e001517
Patient-reported outcomes from the deucravacitinib, 48-week, phase II, PAISLEY study show that patients with SLE experienced greater improvements in pain, fatigue and health-related quality-of-life scores at Week 48 with deucravacitinib versus placebo treatment.
Enhancing systemic lupus erythematosus treatment outcomes with an early initiation of belimumab: insights from a multicenter retrospective study within the first five years
Arthritis Res Ther 2025;27(1):116
Highlighting the importance of early belimumab initiation in SLE, patients with shorter disease duration achieve more substantial improvements in disease activity with early belimumab treatment.
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2025 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Guideline for the Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Guideline Summary
https://rheumatology.org/lupus-guideline#2025-sle-guideline
The ACR have published their summary of the 2025 Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Guideline. This updated lupus guideline project is divided into two manuscripts that include renal published (link) and non renal recommendations that are available online in summary now, and the manuscript format due to follow in late 2025.
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April 2025
Unsupervised machine learning identifies distinct systemic lupus erythematosus patient endotypes with differential response to belimumab
Rheumatol (Oxford), 2025 DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf215. Epub ahead of print
Depascale et al. used unsupervised machine learning to identify three SLE endotypes based on B cell immunophenotyping and serological profiles. Belimumab was most effective in patients with transitional and naïve B cell enrichment (Cluster 2), where it significantly increased the likelihood of achieving sustained LLDAS and DORIS remission.
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March 2025
LLDAS and remission attainment with anifrolumab treatment in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: results from the TULIP and long-term extension randomised controlled trials
Ann Rheum Dis. 2025:S0003-496700071-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.ard.2025.01.016. Epub ahead of print
Morand et al. conducted a post-hoc analysis of the phase III TULIP-1 and TULIP-2 trials and their long-term extension, including 369 patients with moderate to severe SLE, to evaluate the long-term impact of anifrolumab on attainment of LLDAS and DORIS-defined remission. The results demonstrated that anifrolumab significantly improved the likelihood, speed, and duration of LLDAS and DORIS remission versus placebo over 4 years, with benefits sustained throughout the treatment period.
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Belimumab efficacy in mucocutaneous lupus erythematosus: a large post-hoc analysis from five phase III clinical trials
Rheumatol, 2025. Epub ahead of print. DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf145
Grosso et al. conducted a post-hoc analysis of five phase III trials, including 3086 patients, to evaluate the efficacy of belimumab in improving mucocutaneous manifestations of SLE. The results demonstrated that belimumab significantly improved disease activity as measured by the mcBILAG and mcSLEDAI-2K indices compared with placebo and reduced flare rates in patients with high disease activity and serological positivity.
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Evolution and trajectory of B-cell targeted therapies in rheumatic diseases
Lancet Rheumatol, 2025. Epub ahead of print
Carter et al. review the clinical and mechanistic development of B-cell targeted therapies over the last two decades in autoimmune rheumatic diseases. B-cell depletion depth, repopulation dynamics, and immunogenicity determine long-term efficacy and inform the rationale for emerging
dual-targeted approaches, particularly in systemic lupus erythematosus where belimumab and rituximab combinations show potential to mitigate relapse driven by BAFF.
February 2025
Opportunities and limitations of B bell depletion approaches in SLE
Nature Review Rheumatol, 2025;21:111–126 DOI: 10.1038/s41584-024-01210-9
Stockfelt et al. reviewed the long-term efficacy and challenges of B cell depletion strategies in SLE. Rituximab, a CD20-targeting monoclonal antibody, has demonstrated efficacy in a subset of patients but remains limited by immunogenicity, residual B cells, and B-cell activating factor (BAFF)-mediated relapse. Newer strategies incorporating CAR T cells, bispecific T cell engagers, and combination therapies aim to enhance B cell depletion and optimise outcomes.
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Efficacy and safety of obinutuzumab in active lupus nephritis
NEJM, 2025. Epub ahead of print. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2410965
Furie et al. demonstrated that obinutuzumab plus standard therapy significantly improved complete renal response at Wk76 compared with placebo. No unexpected safety signals were identified, though infections and COVID-19-related events were more frequent in the obinutuzumab group.
Belimumab versus telitacicept in sequential treatment after rituximab for refractory lupus nephritis: A real-world multicentre study
Lupus Science & Medicine, 2025;12:e001296 DOI:10.1136/lupus-2024-001296
Chen et al. demonstrated that sequential treatment with belimumab or telitacicept following rituximab (RTX) is a potential therapeutic approach for treating refractory LN. Major AEs included immunoglobin deficiency, respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections, which are consistent with previous studies.