Medical Health Encyclopedia

Sitaxsenten. Sitaxsenten, an endothelin receptor antagonist, is being investigated for treatment of pulmonary hypertension as a complication of lupus. A study presented at the 2004 annual scientific meeting of the American College of Rheumatology indicated that sitaxsenten improved patients’ ability to perform a walking test.

Riquent. Riquent is being developed to treat lupus patients with kidney disease (lupus nephritis). Initial trial results appeared promising, with fewer side effects than current treatments, but in October 2004 the FDA requested an additional clinical trial before approval would be considered.

Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation. Some patients with severe SLE have achieved at least short term remission after undergoing autologous transplantation of stem-cells and high-dose drug therapy to suppress the damaging immune factors. Stem cells are the early forms for all blood cells in the body. An autologous transplant is one in which marrow or blood cells used are the patient's own. (The advantage to an autologous transplant is that the patient's own cells are not at risk for rejection by the immune system.)

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The procedure itself first removes the cells from the patient, who then receives high-dose immunotherapy. The stem cells are then reintroduced. Early results of small studies are encouraging, especially for treatment of antiphospholipid syndrome. Evidence suggests that these re-introduced stem cells do not repeat the original autoimmune errors. In some cases, SLE has remained inactive for more than 2 years. In 2004, the NIH launched a pilot 5-year study of autologous blood stem cell transplantation. Fourteen patients will be followed to see if they remain in remission and relapse-free. Researchers will also compare the “before” and “after” activity of the patients’ B and T cells.