Donate Now
  • What We're Working On
Blood proteins linked to lupus will lead to better diagnosing and understanding of the disease
arc_placeholder_new
Scientific Study Title:
Start Date:
  • 2019
End Date:
  • 2022
Research Category
Tags

Why do this research?

Lupus or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex and unpredictable disease that can lead to irreversible organ damage. Patients with lupus have specific proteins in their blood that are absent in healthy people. Researchers believe that these proteins could represent a new signal for diagnosing and understanding lupus.

What will be done?

We will study blood samples and clinical data from a large group of lupus patients followed since the time of their diagnosis at yearly intervals between years 2000 and 2018.

The Research Team

Principal Investigator

  • Paul Fortin, MD, MPH, FRCPC, Senior Scientist, Rheumatology, Arthritis Research Canada (Université Laval)

Co-investigators

  • Michal Abrahamowicz, PhD, Research Scientist, Biostatistics, Arthritis Research Canada (McGill University)
  • Eric Boilard
  • Joyce Rauch

Research Staff

  • A senior Research Coordinator, a laboratory technician, a biostatistician, a doctoral student, and a bachelor student.

How Can People Get Involved?

Scientists, a biostatistician, a patient representative, and lupus patients.

Media and Infographics

Related Research

What We're Working On Right Now

Exploring a New Immune Cell Therapy for People with Autoimmune Diseases

Systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus are serious autoimmune diseases that can cause damage to many organs including the skin, lungs and kidneys. In this project, we will study a new type of treatment that may better control these diseases by targeting the immune cells that cause them. If successful, it could reduce inflammation, slow or stop disease progression, and may even help reset the immune system, so that some patients no longer need long-term immune-suppressing medications.
Read More

Understanding how scleroderma affects people over time

People living with scleroderma experience challenges such as pain, disability, and mental health concerns, but we still don’t know much about how these problems change over time or why some people do better than others. For this research project, our goal is to improve our understanding of how scleroderma affects people’s daily lives and identify factors that may predict changes in their health.
Read More

How can we help Canadians age at home to improve health outcomes and support a sustainable healthcare system?

As Canada’s population ages, home care is important for helping older adults remain safely within their homes. Our research team is linking data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging with health records in British Columbia, Ontario, and New Brunswick, to track patterns of paid and unpaid home care use over time.
Read More