Press

Local Recording Artists Unite to Support Lupus Research!

On last year's Walk day -- September 8th 2007 -- a CD of original works was made available for sale.

We want to extend many thanks to the various local musicians and other contributors for their enthusiasm and persistence. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

This lively CD was created by a collection of talented musicians who support the Foundation's commitment to medical research.

 

2007 Walk Ambassador - Chelsea West

Chelsea says:

“I want to raise awareness and hope for a cure.”

Chelsea has had a very successful academic career at Anoka High School. Her co-curriculars include Concert Choir, theater, Star club and the National Honor Society.  Outside of her school life, Chelsea has inspired many with her involvement in Lupus Walks and other fundraisers. Chelsea has managed to raise an impressive amount of funding towards vital lupus research despite a busy schedule and her personal lupus diagnosis.

WAY TO GO, CHELSEA!

Research Partially Funded by LFM makes the news!

Genetic "Signature" Linked to Severe Lupus Symptoms

As excerpted from an NIH News Release

[A team of scientists supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and other parts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the private sector, including the Lupus Foundation of MN, have discovered a genetic "signature" present in some patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who develop such life-threatening complications as blood disorders, central nervous system damage and kidney failure.

Using DNA microarrays — small silicon chips that contain tiny amounts of thousands of known genes — to carry out a technique called gene expression profiling, Timothy W. Behrens, M.D., of the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues from North Shore Long Island Jewish Research Institute, analyzed thousands of genes in the peripheral blood cells of 48 lupus patients and 42 healthy controls. Surprisingly, 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 (interferon) expression signature, are turned on by the activity of interferon, a complex family of proteins involved in the regulation of immune responses. "Patients with severe SLE consistently showed higher expression levels of this IFN signature," says Dr. Behrens. The data, he says, provide 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. Gene expression profiling in blood cells may also be useful in identifying disease pathways in other autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.

“Identifying lupus patients at particular risk for severe disease before these complications arise has enormous implications for the early diagnosis and treatment of this potentially devastating disease,” says NIAMS Director Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or lupus, is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease. Its symptoms range from unexplained fever, swollen joints, and skin rashes to severe organ damage of the kidneys, lungs, or central nervous system. Lupus is difficult to diagnose because it is different for every person who has it, and it affects women nine times more often than men.

The study will appear in the online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of February 10th.]

For more information about Dr. Timothy W. Behrens, you can visit his web site www.behrenslab.org.