new drug for treating lupus kidney problems

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Drug Helps Fight Lupus Kidney Problems

Treatment Could Be Used for Other Autoimmune Diseases

By Jeanie Lerche WebMD Medical Reference

Reviewed By , MDon Tuesday, February 18, 2003

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Feb. 18, 2003 -- A new drug looks promising for treatment of lupus, a debilitating disease that primarily affects women. The drug, called Trichostatin A or TSA, reduces symptoms of lupus-related kidney disease in mice.

Lupus is a mysterious disorder, one in which the body's own immune system attacks organs and tissues. In severe cases, much of the body -- the joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain, and blood -- become damaged. About half of all people with systemic lupus have kidney problems, achy joints, fever, arthritis, and extreme fatigue. Researchers don't fully understand what triggers lupus, so development of treatments has been difficult.

In the study, mice bred to have symptoms of lupus were treated with TSA and another already available drug called SAHA (suberonylanilide hydroxamic acid).

Both drugs attacked the genes that cause lupus-related kidney disease, without affecting other genes, writes researcher Nilamadhab Mishra, MD, internal medicine professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. His study appears in this week's Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The two drugs reduced signs of kidney disease in the mice, including excess protein in the urine and inflammation of the kidneys. That might indicate potential use as a treatment for people with lupus -- although lupus in mice is not quite the same as lupus in people, writes Mishra.

"The positive effects of TSA treatment in mice do not necessarily mean it will be effective in human lupus," he says in a news release. However, it does seem promising. The drug SAHA -- which is in a similar class of drugs as TSA -- has been shown to suppress growth of prostate cancer. Also, TSA has shown promise as a treatment for breast cancer.

"Investigation of the potential role of these agents in autoimmune diseases is just beginning," says Mishra.

SOURCES: Journal of Clinical Investigation, Feb. 14, 2003. News release, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. WebMD Medical News: "Compound Holds Promise for Lupus".

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