A clinical trial of a combination of two drugs to treat lupus is to start recruiting early next year.
BEAT-LUPUS is a £1.8m randomised clinical trial, led by BRC-supported Professor Mike Ehrenstein, aimed at developing new treatments for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SLE is an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person’s antibodies, produced by immune B cells, mistakenly attack the body's own cells.
This attack causes severe inflammation, with a range of problems including fatigue, rashes, hair loss, arthritis, kidney involvement and blood disorders. Long-term complications in SLE can include early onset heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure.
The research team will test the effectiveness of treating patients with both belimumab, an antibody that blocks the actions of the B cell growth factor BAFF, and rituximab, a drug designed specifically to deplete B cells.
In 2012 Professor Ehrenstein and his team found successive treatments with rituximab led to temporary improvements for lupus patients. However this was often followed by ever worsening flares. Studies on other patients revealed that BAFF increases after taking rituximab and is associated with disease flares. This trial will test whether belimumab can be used to prevent flares in patients with SLE post rituximab therapy.
Professor Ehrenstein said: “The development of new treatments for lupus has been frustratingly slow. It is hoped that this combination of two biologic therapies will improve the lives of patients with lupus”.
SLE affects around 16,000 people in the UK – 90 percent of these are women and it is particularly common amongst people of African, Indo-Asian and Chinese origin.
The trial is funded by the BRC, Arthritis Research UK and GSK.
