Identification of a novel key player in lupus disease opens the door to treatment

Bladder cystitis Pancreatitis (abdominal pain) Systemic general malaise, high fever, anaemia Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease, the precise cause of which is still unclear. Through dedicated work, Professor Shunichi Shiozawa from Kobe University, Japan, uncovers the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of systemic autoimmunity and identifies a novel key player. Shiozawa demonstrates that overstimulation of the host’s immune system by an immunogenic pathogen kickstarts the generation of new T lymphocytes, which induce SLE and could be a future target of SLE cell therapies.