Researchers Develop New Scoring System to Measure Lupus Outcomes

Lupus is a complex disease that affects different people in different ways. Because of this, it has been challenging to develop a single measure that takes multiple aspects of disease activity into account. Now, researchers are addressing that challenge with the new Lupus Multivariable Outcome Score index (LuMOS 2.0). LuMOS was originally created to help measure the efficacy of new therapies by assessing clinically relevant responses to treatment in clinical trials. LuMOS 2.0 now offers an even more refined version of the original scoring system to help ensure relevant treatment outcome data gets captured in clinical trials.

LuMOS 2.0 was developed with the goal of optimizing the measure’s sensitivity. In the latest study, researchers used previous clinical trial data to assess how well LuMOS 2.0 captured relevant disease activity changes after treatment compared to the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Responder Index-5 (SRI-5), a different tool used to measure lupus disease activity and response to treatment. The SRI-5 is a validated measure that is commonly used in lupus drug trials. The findings showed that LuMOS 2.0 was better than the SRI-5 at detecting a drug’s treatment effects.

LuMOS 2.0 shows promise in providing drug developers and clinicians with a simple and even stronger outcome measure to better assess a drug's effectiveness. A standardized model may help identify effective new lupus treatments; however, further research is needed to fully validate the LuMOS 2.0 score index. Learn more about treatments being studied for lupus.

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