For most chronic illnesses, getting older means things get worse. But lupus is different. This unpredictable autoimmune disease often quiets down as patients grow older, and scientists at the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF) may have finally figured out why.
Lupus is sometimes called the “classic” autoimmune disease. Instead of defending the body, the immune system’s powerful antiviral defenses, interferons, get confused and turn on the body itself. The results can be devastating: kidneys, heart, skin, joints, and nearly every organ can come under attack.
Yet doctors have noticed something unusual. Younger patients in their 20s, 30s, and 40s often need frequent checkups to manage flare-ups. But once patients make it into their 60s or 70s, the disease sometimes fades. “If patients make it through those risky decades, they sometimes see a dramatic improvement,” explains Dr. Sarah Patterson, a rheumatologist at UCSF.
So, what changes inside the body as the decades pass?
The UCSF team dug into this question by analyzing blood samples from lupus patients of different ages. What they found was surprising: with age, lupus patients showed a gradual turning down of certain immune system genes that normally fuel inflammation. This meant fewer interferons and other inflammatory proteins in the bloodstream, dialing back the very storm that drives lupus.
In healthy people, inflammation tends to build with age, a process scientists call “inflammaging.” But in lupus patients, the researchers noticed the opposite pattern. “Inflammaging seemed to be reversed in the lupus patients,” says Dr. Chaz Langelier, senior author of the study. “But it wasn’t fully reversed. The lupus patients still had a greater level of inflammatory signaling compared to healthy adults in older age.”
This finding helps explain what doctors have long observed in the clinic: the fiery immune system activity of lupus seems to burn out with time, giving older patients some relief.
But the story isn’t over yet. The UCSF team now wants to explore whether lupus drugs that block interferons work differently depending on a patient’s age. If so, treatment strategies could become much more personalized. And that could change how doctors approach not only lupus, but also other inflammation-driven conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, COPD, and even heart disease.
For now, the discovery brings hope. For patients battling lupus through their younger years, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, and science is finally beginning to explain why.
For more details, refer to this article published in Science Translational Medicine.
Copyright @smorescience. All rights reserved. Do not copy, cite, publish, or distribute this content without permission.
