Access: Lupus Research -- Antiphospholipid Syndrome
Research Summaries from 2012
Lupus Anticoagulant Affects Pregnancy Outcomes
Having antibodies typical of anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS) can increase the risk of pregnancy complications. However, whether or not specific women with APS, such as women who also have lupus, may be at even greater risk of pregnancy complications has not been fully established or agreed upon. Identification of specific women with APS or specific characteristics, such as the presence of specific APS antibodies, which can predict increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, could be very useful. The results of this study highlight the important role of lupus anticoagulant, as well as that of a previous blood clot, in adverse pregnancy outcomes.
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Research Summaries from 2010
Blood Components Help Differentiate Lupus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome
Cytokines are proteins of the immune system that work to communicate between different cells. Tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α) is a cytokine that helps to control both blood clotting and inflammation and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) helps to regulate inflammation. Results from this study suggest that both proteins may be important clues to figuring out how lupus develops and that TNF-α, especially, may play a role in risk for blood clotting.
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People Who Have Both Lupus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome Might Have Higher Risk of Thyroid Disease
The thyroid is a gland in the neck which helps the body keep order over how food and nutrients are handled and how fast people grow, gain or lose weight, how the heart beats, or how blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the blood respond to these changes. A protein called "thyroid peroxidase" helps to modify other proteins that the thyroid produces that perform all of these functions. Some people make antibodies (immune proteins) against their own thyroid peroxidase (these are called "anti-TPO"). People with anti-TPO sometimes have an underactive thyroid; this causes weight gain, fatigue, and a tendency to feel cold when other people around you do not.
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Research Summaries from 2007
At risk for thrombosis: FXII autoantibodies and the antiphospholipid syndrome
People with lupus who have antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are at risk for blood clots, including heart attacks, strokes, clots in the legs, lungs, or other organs, and pregnancy complications. Researchers for this study of 127 patients found antibodies to Factor XII (FXII), a protein that plays a role in preventing blood clots, were present in 40% of the lupus patients as opposed to only 7% of the healthy people.
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Physicians Should Consider All Risk Factors for Thrombosis in People with Lupus
Many patients with lupus know about a risk for abnormal blood clotting that is associated with antibodies called antiphospholipid antibodies. However there are other risk factors for disordered blood clotting that lupus patients should be aware of.
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