Research
Lupus is the focus of much research as scientists try to determine
what causes the disease and how it can be best treated. Some
of the questions they are working to answer include:
Exactly who gets lupus and why?
Why are women more likely than men to have the disease?
Why are there more cases of lupus in some racial and ethnic
groups?
What goes wrong in the immune system and why?
How can we correct the way the immune system functions once
something goes wrong?
What treatment approaches will work best to less or cure symptoms
of lupus?
Clinical trials are medical
research studies to see whether new treatments are safe and
effective. These studies help doctors learn how people respond
to medicines or other new or improved treatments. This Web
site, www.ClinicalTrials.gov,
provides patients, families, and the public with an easy way
to get information about clinical trials. Links to the people
who are recruiting participants for each study are also provided.
Clinical Trials at NIH
Phone: 800-411-1222 (free of charge) www.ClinicalTrials.gov
The National Institute of Arthritis
and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) (link), a component
of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), funds many individual
researchers across the United States. The Lupus
Research Institute and the
Alliance for Lupus Research, privately funded research
organizations, provide financial support to peer reviewed
lupus research projects.
Lupus Research
Organizations Intensify the Search for a Cure
The Lupus Foundation of New
England is proud to support two important lupus research organizations,
the Lupus
Research Institute and the Alliance
for Lupus Research. We applaud their commitment to searching
for better treatments and a cure for lupus and hope that this
vital research will be successful soon. The cause of lupus
continues to elude identification, as does a cure, and no
major new treatment has been developed in almost 40 years.
Lupus needs new science to move us beyond what we already
know toward finding answers to what we don't know.
TheLupus
Research Institute (LRI) is dedicated to changing
the course of lupus research by seeking and funding only new
science in lupus. In its pursuit of new treatments and a cure,
the LRI is encouraging scientists to look at this disease
in innovative, unconventional ways. It is flexible and open
to all new scientific approaches that demonstrate novelty
and a strong hypothesis with significant likelihood of success.
The LRI is fulfilling its mission through a three-pronged
approach:
New scientific approaches.
The LRI is funding novel interdisciplinary research projects
of established and new investigators nationwide, including
basic and clinical research.
Breaking the barriers to
clinical trials in lupus patients. Through its Clinical
Trials Initiatives, the LRI is seeking unique methodologies
to speed up the testing of promising agents to make new
treatments available as soon as possible.
New Minds. Over the past
10 years, the American College of Rheumatology, the chief
subspecialty of lupus study, experienced a 50 percent decrease
in first-year fellows, with many young scientists moving
to industry or clinical practice. The LRI is committed to
recruiting new investigators across disciplines that will
provide fresh, new perspectives in lupus. more
