Leeds University. UK: The University of Leeds is to be a key partner in a new £5.1 m
project aimed at eliminating the ‘trial and error’ approach to the treatment of
lupus. Systemic lupus erythematosus (also known as SLE
or lupus) is a condition which affects around 16,000 people in the UK – 90
percent of these are women and it is particularly common amongst people of
African, Indo-Asian and Chinese origin. The disease often starts between
the ages of 20 to 30, although children may be affected severely as well.
In people with lupus, the immune system attacks healthy cells, organs and tissues, causing severe inflammation. The reasons for this are poorly understood, but the inflammation can affect any part of the body including the joints, skin, mouth, eyes, blood, brain or other major organs such as the kidneys. The most common symptoms are skin rashes, which can be difficult to treat.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds and the National Institute for Health Research Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit will be using cutting-edge technology, such as next generation RNA sequencing, to examine skin biopsies in order to try to understand why the skin rashes and hair loss in lupus respond well to treatment in some patients but not others.
Dr Ed Vital is leading the Leeds team. He said: “We will be looking at dermatological symptoms that patients often experience in addition to arthritis or internal organ problems.
“A skin rash, often on the face, is the most common sign of lupus in patients and it can be painful, as well as affecting appearance. Sometimes permanent scarring occurs.
“This, added to the hair loss which sometimes happens along with the rash, can severely affect quality of life for lupus patients. We want to try to understand, on a molecular level, why some treatments work better than others. The medicines we usually use can work very well for certain patients, but overall response rates are low – often less than 50%. This means doctors and patients have to try many treatments over a long period before they find one that works. We want to find tests that would let us choose the right treatment for each patient first time.
“This project is a key part of a strong link between rheumatology and dermatology doctors and researchers in Leeds to try to improve care and research for a range of diseases also including psoriasis and scleroderma.”
The new four-year project, called MAximizing Sle ThERapeutic PotentiaL by Application of Novel and Stratified approaches (MASTERPLANS), will seek to improve on the current ‘trial and error’ approach to treatment. Many studies show that only 40-50% of patients will respond well to any particular treatment.
The funding, which incorporates £4.2m from the Medical Research Council, was announced by Minister for Life Sciences, George Freeman MP, at the London Stock Exchange today (Thursday, 29 January).
Professor Ian Bruce from the University of Manchester’s Institute of Inflammation and Repair, who is Director of the NIHR Manchester Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, said: “We will be studying a whole range of factors which can influence the success or failure of treatment. By examining the genetic profile, immune response and clinical data of groups of patients we aim to identify key factors that predict more accurately the right treatment to offer to individual patients.”
Getting the right treatments to patients first time the new approach will reduce the time needed to get SLE under control and also reduce long-term complications which are often related to poor control of disease as well as the long-term use of steroids in this population. Such an approach will also be a better use of healthcare resources.
Stratified medicine involves the study of large numbers of patients to identify smaller groups for more personalised treatment based on their particular genetic and biological characteristics. The team envisages that this approach will increase the success rate of treatments for individual patients.
As well as the Universities of Leeds and Manchester, the consortium also includes the Universities of Bath, Liverpool, Birmingham and Cambridge, alongside King’s College London, Imperial College London, University College London and the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit.
These institutions will work alongside industry partners including Aeirtec Limited, Aurinia (Vifor), The Binding Site, Epistem, GSK, Imagen Biotech, Medimmune, Myriad RBM, Roche/Genentech and UCB.
The funding was part of a further £13.7 million investment in stratified medicine collaborations funded by the MRC.
Professor Sir John Savill, the MRC’s chief executive, said: “The goal of stratified medicine is to provide patients with the best treatments by ensuring that existing medicines are targeted at those who will derive most benefit but also by accelerating the development of new therapies. Achieving this goal requires partnerships that harness the diverse mix of knowledge, expertise and commitment of academia, industry and patients.”
Further information
Dr Ed Vital is available for interview. Contact Ben Jones in the University of Leeds press office on 0113 343 8059 or email B.P.Jones@leeds.ac.uk