Publications
Find coverage of the latest original articles on Lupus, focusing on those with data on therapeutic interventions and those that have clinical impact.
September 2024
Efficacy and safety of sequential therapy with subcutaneous belimumab and one cycle of rituximab in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: the phase 3, randomised, placebo-controlled BLISS-BELIEVE study
Ann Rheum Dis 2024;0:1–11 DOI 10.1136/ard-2024-225686.
Aranow et al. evaluated the efficacy and safety of combining subcutaneous belimumab with one cycle of rituximab in SLE. Sequential therapy did not show a statistically significant improvement in disease control over belimumab monotherapy, but did achieve nominally better reductions in disease activity markers.
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April 2024
Mycophenolate mofetil withdrawal in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial
Lancet Rheumatol 224;6(3):e168–77 DOI 10.1016/S2665-9913(23)00320-X
Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) withdrawal was not significantly inferior to MMF maintenance through Week 60 in patients with SLE that had been treated with MMF for ≥1 year.
December 2023
Association Between Severe Nonadherence to Hydroxychloroquine and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Flares, Damage, and Mortality in 660 Patients From the SLICC Inception Cohort
Arthritis Rheumatol. 2023; 75(12):2195–2206 DOI: 10.1002/art.42645
n this study, severe nonadherence to hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was independently associated with the risk of SLE flare in the following year, early damage and 5-year mortality.
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May 2023
Machine Learning Identifies Clusters of Longitudinal Autoantibody Profiles Predictive of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Outcomes
Ann Rheum Dis 2023;82(7):927–36 doi 10.1136/ard-2022-223808
Choi, et al. used machine clustering techniques to divide SLE patients into four distinct clusters. This could potentially be used to predict future clinical outcomes, and as benchmarks to study other SLE-related outcomes.
February 2023
Assessing the Costs of Neuropsychiatric Disease in the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) Cohort using Multistate Modelling
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2023 doi: 10.1002/acr.25090.
First study to assess the long-term economic burden of neurologic and/or psychiatric (NP) lupus in an international, multi-ethnic inception cohort, concludes that patients with new/ongoing SLE or non-SLE NP events incurred higher direct and indirect costs.
September 2022
Remission and low disease activity (LDA) prevent damage accrual in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: results from the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) inception cohort
Ann Rheum Dis. 2022. Epub ahead of print doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-222487.
Large multinational, multiethnic cohort, study highlights the importance of treating-to-target in SLE.
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May 2022
Impact of belimumab on organ damage in systemic lupus erythematosus
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2022 Epub ahead of print doi: 10.1002/acr.24901
Review of clinical trial and real-world data on the effects of belimumab on organ damage in adult patients with SLE shows that belimumab reduces key drivers of organ damage, decreases organ damage progression and, in those with lupus nephritis (LN), decreases renal-related events.
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February 2022
Evaluating the Construct of Damage in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2021 Dec 28. Epub ahead of print
Study identifies shifts in the paradigm of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) damage and develops a unifying conceptual framework to inform development of a revised SLE Damage Index (SDI).
Shifts in the concept of damage in SLE have occurred with new insights into disease manifestations, diagnostics, and therapy. Consequently, there is a need for a revised SDI, to incorporate additional factors that contribute to damage accrual.
Flares after Hydroxychloroquine Reduction or Discontinuation: Results from the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) Inception Cohort
Ann Rheum Dis. 2021:annrheumdis-2021-221295. Epub ahead of print
Evidence suggests that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) reduction/withdrawal may be safe in some stable patients, but in other settings it may be associated with disease flare. Almeida-Brasil, et al. sought to evaluate SLE flares following HCQ reduction or discontinuation versus HCQ maintenance. Their data suggest that maintaining HCQ was associated with a lower flare risk than reduction or discontinuation, even in patients with low disease activity or remission.
October 2021
Long-term Organ Damage Accrual and Safety in Patients with SLE Treated with Belimumab Plus Standard of Care
Lupus 2016;25:699–709
Both active disease and medication toxicity can result in the accrual of long-term organ damage in SLE.