ImmunoTargets and Therapy

Immune Targets and Novel Therapies for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Related Disorders

ImmunoTargets and Therapy is pleased to welcome you to submit your research to the Article Collection "Immune Targets and Novel Therapies for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Related Disorders".

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototype systemic autoimmune disease that mainly affects the younger population.  Despite newer immunomodulatory therapies, the survival of the disease fails to improve since the mid-1990s.  Early diagnosis and recognition of disease activity, and the use of more aggressive therapies for high-risk patients is the key to reduce disease flares, organ damage and improve quality of life.   There is an unmet need to develop novel therapies with a better therapeutic index in patients suffering from SLE and related diseases such as Sjogren’s disease, undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD) and systemic sclerosis.  More potent B cell depletion, targeting the T cells, co-stimulatory molecules and the dendritic cells, as well as the downstream intracellular signal pathways, have been the particular spotlights of SLE therapies in recent years.  Biomarker panels that help stratify patients into different subgroups enable more precise individualized therapies to improve efficacy outcomes and reduce treatment-related toxicities are being developed.

As there is an increasing number of clinical trials  focusing on treating SLE/lupus nephritis (LN) published or in progress, and consensus of new assessment tools for outcome measures of clinical trials, disease activity and quality of life are being developed, it is important to start a new Collection to report/summarize the advances of the management of this class of autoimmune disorders in the areas of therapeutics, molecular mechanisms, assessment tools and biomarkers.

We welcome original works and review articles focusing on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of SLE and related disorders and their link with novel therapeutic approaches, surveillance of organ dysfunction and treatment-related toxicities, prevention of long-term organ damage and improvement of quality of life.  Biomarkers that enhance the diagnostic performance of SLE/LN and related disorders, predict disease flares and prognosis of the disease, as well as response to particular therapies are also appreciated.

The focus of this Article Collection is on SLE/LN, as well as their related disorders, including systemic sclerosis, Sjogren’s disease, undifferentiated connective tissue disorder, and antiphospholipid syndrome. Areas of interest in this special Article Collection include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic studies
• Classification criteria, disease activity indices, and organ damage
• Liquid biomarkers for the prediction of disease prognosis and flares
• Novel therapeutic, targeted agents and small molecules in disease treatment
• Cellular therapies such as CAR-T, CAR-NK, mesenchymal cells

Keywords: Lupus; Lupus nephritis; Novel therapies; Biomarkers; Immunotargets; Systemic sclerosis; Undifferentiated connective tissue disease; Sjogren’s disease

Meet the Guest Advisor

Professor Chi Chiu Mok is the Chief of Rheumatology of the Department of Medicine, Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong.  He is also an honorary Professor of both the University of Hong Kong University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was the past president of the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology and is currently the co-convener of the APLAR systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) special interest group (SIG). Dr. Mok is the senior associate editor of the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases, Therapeutic Advances of Musculoskeletal Diseases, Frontiers in Immunology, and an editorial member of the Journal of Rheumatology, Lupus and Current Rheumatology Review.  He is the first author of >250 papers in a number of Rheumatology and medical journals including Lancet Rheumatology, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Nature Review Rheumatology, Arthritis & Rheumatology and Journal of Internal Medicine. The research interest of Dr. Mok is SLE, particularly lupus nephritis, and glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis.