A new study may lead to new treatments for lupus as it has found that, when impaired, a key regulator of the immune system can cause damaging immune system attacks on skin and organs, which are hallmarks of the disease.

It has previously been discovered that blocking a key regulator of the immune system helped unleash the body’s natural defenses against several forms of cancer. Now, scientists have essentially turned this around and found that, when impaired, a molecularly-similar regulator can cause damaging immune system attacks on skin and organs that are the hallmark of the autoimmune disease, lupus.

The study results help to explain the origins of lupus and suggest novel ways researchers might be able to restore the function of this inhibitor and provide much needed new therapy to treat the disease, the scientists said.

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