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Biomarkers
Biomarkers—“early predictors”—are lab tests that have the potential to drastically minimize the guesswork in diagnosing and treating lupus. They provide tools with which to peer into the immune system and witness the earliest indications of problems—from whether lupus is about to flare, or is responding to treatment.
Biomarkers offer the possibility of answering such questions as
- “Will I get sicker?”
- “Are my kidneys all right? My heart?”
- “Will my siblings or children get lupus?”
- “Will a new drug work for me?”
- “Will I ever feel better?”
“Biomarkers can take the guesswork out of treating lupus and help in creating a meaningful plan of action tailored to each person. They can also speed the development and approval of more effective and less toxic drugs.”
– William E. Paul, MD
Chief, Laboratory of Immunology, NIAID-NIH
Chairman, LRI Scientific Board
No single biomarker has been accepted widely or used routinely for any aspect of lupus—in fact, because lupus develops and affects people so differently, it is highly unlikely that any single biomarker will provide all the answers for everyone, experts say.
Biomarkers may also hold the key to developing new drugs for lupus, for which none have been approved in nearly half a century.
“To know if a drug works, we have to assess how active the disease is and how that activity changes in response to the drug, If proven valid, the potential new biomarkers will stimulate drug companies to get in the game.”
– Mary K. Crow, MD
Division of Rheumatology Associate Chief & Director of Rheumatology Research at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
Also an LRI researcher.
The LRI funds the largest number of private sector studies seeking lupus biomarkers:
Circulating Endothelial Cells, a Biomarker to Predict Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Patients with S.L.E.
Robert M. Clancy, PhD
New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY
Class of 2003/2004
Serum Protein Biomarkers for Disease Activity in Human S.L.E.
Timothy W. Behrens, MD
Genentech
(previously at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN)
Class of 2005
Emily Baechler Gillespie, PhD
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Class of 2005
Anti-Lymphocyte Autoantibodies and Lymphocyte-Bound Complement Activation Products: New Allies as SLE Biomarkers
Chau-Ching Liu, MD, PhD
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA
Class of 2006
Autoantigen-Independent Control of Tissue Targeting in Lupus
Christopher A.J. Roman, PhD
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Class of 2006
Role of Complement Receptor 2 in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Susan A. Boackle, MD
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO
Class of 2002
Biomarkers of Disease Flare in S.L.E. +
Mechanism of Immune System Activation in S.L.E.
Mary K. Crow, MD
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY
2004 Biomarkers
Class of 2001
Biomarkers for Renal Remission in S.L.E.
Anne Davidson, MD
Feinstein Medical Research Institute, Manhasset, NY
Class of 2003/2004
Aberrant HDL as Biomarker for Heart Disease in S.L.E.
Bevra Hahn, MD
University of California at Los Angeles, CA
Class of 2003/2004
Endothelial Cell Death in Females with S.L.E.; Mechanisms and Associations with Premature Vascular Disease
Mariana J. Kaplan, MD
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Class of 2002
Expression and function of T cell-specific microRNAs in a murine SLE model
Marianthi Kiriakidou, MD
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Class of 2007
Reaction of Kidney Cells to Autoimmune Attack in Lupus Nephritis
Elahna Paul, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Class of 2003/2004
The Role of HMGB1 in the Pathogenesis of S.L.E.
David S. Pisetsky, MD, PhD
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
Class of 2003/2004
The Human Renal Target for Anti-DNA Antibodies
Chaim Putterman, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
Class of 2001
Prognostic Indicators in Lupus Nephritis
Hanno B. Richards, MD
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Class of 2002
Biomarkers of Blood Clotting in S.L.E. and APS
Robert A. S. Roubey, MD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC
Class of 2004
The Role of EBCT in Identification of Premature Atherosclerosis in S.L.E. Patients: Association of Coronary Calcification with Traditional and Novel Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Joan Von Feldt, MD
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Clinical Trials Initiative Grant
Class of 2002
Evaluation of Therapeutic Targets for Systemic Autoimmunity
Edward Wakeland, PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Class of 2001
Identification of biomarkers in circulating blood cells that identify events in the molecular pathogenesis of S.L.E. nephritis
Robert Winchester, MD
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY
Class of 2004
Light Chain Editors and Autoimmunity +
The Regulation and Loss of Regulation of Anti-DNA B cells
Martin Weigert, PhD
University of Chicago, IL
Class of 2005
Urinary Biomarkers in Lupus Nephritis
Chandra Mohan, MD, PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Class of 2008
Chaim Putterman, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
Class of 2008
Joshua Thurman, MD
University of Colorado, Denver, CO
Class of 2009
