Photo: Chokniti Khongchum | Pexels
Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists have discovered a molecular defect that promotes the pathologic immune response in systemic lupus erythematosus (known as lupus). Lupus, which affects more than 1.5 million people in the US, can result in life-threatening damage to multiple organs including the kidneys, brain and heart. Disease-associated changes in multiple molecules in the blood of patients with lupus lead to insufficient activation of a pathway controlled by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), which regulates cells’ response to environmental pollutants, bacteria or metabolites, the scientists said. Returning the AHR-activating molecules to blood samples from lupus patients seemed to reprogram these cells into a Th22 cell that may promote wound healing and may be a potential cure.
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