The new research showing promise, but again long term use of drug may be required to suppress flare ups in systemic lupus erythematous. It is only has been successful in animal models. We have to still wait for the cure of the disease.
Lupus Study Suggests Antiplatelet Drugs May Help
LONDON (Reuters) Sep 01 - Scientists studying systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have found that blood platelets are key in its development and say their findings in the lab suggest platelet inhibitors may offer a new way to treat patients.
The researchers found that lupus patients have an excess of platelets and, after tests on mice, suggest that treating them with a drug like clopidogrel (Plavix) could prevent flare-ups of the disease.
For this study, Dr. Blanco and colleagues collected platelets from patients experiencing lupus flares. They found these platelets had an abundance of CD154 - a protein normally activated for clotting - and that they triggered production of interferons.
In the murine models of lupus, they found that if they wiped out platelets by injecting an antibody to destroy them, inflammation of the kidneys - an organ often affected by lupus - was significantly decreased.
"Because wiping out platelets is not possible in humans, we decided to test the lupus mice with clopidogrel and found that this also significantly reduced the development of the lupus disease," Dr. Blanco said in a telephone interview.
As well as experiencing less kidney damage, the clopidogrel-treated mice also lived for an extra three months.
Read more at www.medscape.com
Sci Transl Med. Published September 2010. Abstract
