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| Vol. 23, No. 5 |
| March 15, 2001 |
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Childhood-Onset Lupus Study Begins By JENNIFER HART Texas Children's Hospital Texas Children's Hospital is one of only four centers in North America participating in the first major, clinical study of childhood-onset lupus, a complicated disease in which a person's immune system attacks itself. This groundbreaking study involves the largest group of patients with childhood-onset lupus ever assembled. Childhood lupus is so rarely studied that it is not known how many young people the disease affects. About four in every 100,000 adults have lupus. "Lupus is an autoimmune disease, which means that a patient's immune system attacks itself, instead of fighting disease organisms that invade the body," said Dr. Barry Myones, director of research for the Pediatric Rheumatology Center at Texas Children's Hospital. Dr. Myones also serves as an associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at Baylor College of Medicine and is the primary investigator for the study. "Because of the size and duration of the study, we hope to learn more about the disease than ever before," he explained. Researchers received $275,839 in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders for the five-year study. The cause of lupus is unknown, and there is no cure. Researchers suspect there is a genetic predisposition to the disease, as well as links to environmental and hormonal factors, Dr. Myones said. "The study in children is important because we believe that, when an illness such as lupus develops in childhood, the genetic influence is presumed to be stronger," he said. During the study, genetic tests will be performed to determine the factors that predispose a child to developing lupus. The results eventually may provide data that will enable physicians to "turn off" the immune reaction against the body. Researchers also hope to identify the genes that cause lupus, determine the risk to other family members of developing lupus, and increase the understanding of how the disease develops, said Dr. Myones. "Symptoms of lupus include severe fatigue, joint swelling and pain, and rashes and mouth sores," Dr. Myones said. "Lupus can affect virtually any organ system in the body, including the heart, kidneys, brain and gastrointestinal tract." Treatment options are limited and include immunosuppressive agents, anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, anti-coagulants and anti-hypertensive medications. In the study, researchers will recruit 850 families who have at least one family member with lupus. Texas Children's will recruit 280 families, the largest patient sample. Other participating institutions are The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.
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