What does it mean when lupus goes quiet? A $15 million international study is investigating patients in long-term remission to understand whether lupus can truly switch off — and what that reveals about the immune system. Written byBree Foster, PhD

https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/what-does-it-mean-when-lupus-goes-quiet-17178?utm_campaign=DDN_Newsletter_Dose&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8oA7XCbFvEt8mWN5SzictbeSsPi0si3EgZ_Wf_df1FQMvHSS7Bl8CGvQbW_UmwrAKXNApL2pVOQkr2iIQUFrqT2fMjSA&_hsmi=421619108&utm_content=421619108&utm_source=hs_email When Hazel Harris was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in 1986, she had never heard of the disease. She was 33 years old, busy, energetic, and always on the move. Then her body began to change in ways she couldn’t explain. First came the rash on her face, in the shape of a butterfly. Then her eyes grew puffy. This was followed by a deep fatigue that was extremely unlike her. Finally, her leg began to swell so badly that she could no longer walk. “That’s when I had no choice but to go to the doctor,” she told DDN. SLE is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, causing inflammation that can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, lungs, brain, blood vessels, and heart. It affects approximately 3.4 million people worldwide, most commonly women, and disproportionately people of African ancestry.