Interferon Expression Signature Characterizes Severe Lupus

A study has found that some victims of severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) share a group of 14 active genes known as the IFN (interferon) expression signature. The study was published February 25, 2003, in the on-line edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

SLE is a complex, inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects multiple organ systems. Investigators from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, USA) and the North Shore Long Island Jewish Research Institute (New York, USA) used global gene expression profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 48 SLE patients and 42 controls to identify distinct patterns of gene expression that distinguished most SLE patients from healthy controls.

They found that 14 of the thousands of genes studied were linked to a subset of SLE patients with severe disease. In addition, 161 of the genes studied showed different expression patterns in SLE patients compared with healthy controls. The 14 genes, referred to collectively as the IFN expression signature, are turned on by the activity of the immune regulator interferon.

"Patients with severe SLE consistently showed higher expression levels of this IFN signature,” explained senior author Dr. Timothy Behrens, a researcher at the University of Minnesota. "The data provided strong support for developing new therapies to block IFN pathways in patients with severe lupus, and the pattern of gene expression in blood cells may be useful in identifying patients most likely to benefit from these new therapies.”




Related Links:
University of Minnesota
North Shore Long Island Jewish Research Institute