Fatigue in SLE
An NIH lupus cohort study looked at fatigue in SLE and found associations with organ damage, obesity, but does not correlate with disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients.
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Registry of 587 #SLE pts. 30% were RNP+ --> more dz activity than RNP- (SLEDAI-2 8.0 vs 4.0) and more Rx use (daily GC 6.8 vs 3 mg). RNP+ more renal, skin & serologic activity & less likely to LLDAS (20% vs 32%) or REM (12% vs 23%). RNP + 18-fold more likely to be Sm+ https://t.co/3J0Uew48OS
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Toll-Like Receptor Drugs Effective in Cutaneous Lupus
MedPage Today
Enpatoran, an investigational oral drug that inhibits Toll-like receptors (TLR) 7 and 8, was superior to placebo in relieving lupus skin manifestations in a dose-finding phase II trial.
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Lupus Mortality Risk in Young Women
ACR
New research using death certificate data from 52,942 females, reveals that systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) is a leading cause of years of potential life lost among young women in the United States, underscoring the disease’s significant and often underrecognized public health burden.
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Review of Toll-like Receptor Research
EurekAlert!
A new review on Toll-like receptors (TLRs) systematically summarizes forty years of discoveries in the TLR field, from the initial identification of Toll in Drosophila embryonic development to the current understanding
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A Patient’s Plea for a New Paradigm in Autoimmune Disease
A current article in Nature Reviews Rheumatology has a patient boldly asking why we rheumatologists aren't more like her oncologists?
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Anifrolumab (Saphnelo) approved in the US for subcutaneous self-administration as a new autoinjector for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus based on SC-TULIP study. Presumeably, all prior CRL issues resolved to FDA satisfaction... https://t.co/ZtZmJLcGYa https://t.co/4B2YDpFaep
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Which autoimmune condition carries the highest relative risk for lymphoma? Test your knowledge in the latest RheumIQ quiz at https://t.co/TBlB4pmnKa https://t.co/sx8fpdHgHN
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Twofold Mortality in SLE
Despite declining incidence of lupus, mortality for SLE was twice that of controls in this large incident cohort study.
https://t.co/Sv7XMnLT3J https://t.co/CURPZ5cYgt
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
FDA has accepted Genetech application for obinutuzumab (Gazyva) to treat SLE (currently only approved for lupus nephritis) - based on Phase III ALLEGORY study w/ Gazyva showing signif reduced dz activity https://t.co/louTYyN6bN https://t.co/Hy1gGliamn
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Follow the Money (4.23.2026)
Dr. Jack Cush follows the money and all the news that fits the Rheumatology Gab for this past week.
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Twofold Mortality in SLE
Despite declining incidence of lupus, mortality for SLE was twice that of controls in this large incident cohort study.
Ethnicity is a strong predictor of incidence and outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. This population study used the UK Clinical Practice
Severe thrombocytopenia (TP) assoc w/ severe APS & increased mortality. Retro study of 432 #APS pts - 142 w/ TP (33%): 13% severe TP (<50L G/L). Severe TP assoc w/ ITP & CAP -had higher mortality https://t.co/p0bvLKupUe
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Prescribing Lessons (4.17.2026)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from this past week on RheumNow.com.
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Litifilimab in Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus
Biogen has announced positive results of their Phase 2 study, evaluating litifilimab in patients with active cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), presented at the recent American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting. https://t.co/3Wb6iFViOm
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Litifilimab in Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus
Biogen has announced positive results of their Phase 2 study, evaluating litifilimab in patients with active cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), presented at the recent American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting.
Litifilimab is an investigational monoclonal antibody that
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Screening High Risk Myositis Patients for Cancer
An Italian retrospective study of 411 idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) patients applied IMACS criteria to assess the risk of cancer and found significantly more cancers in those at high risk.
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Couldn’t attend https://t.co/4UQlqwujiR 2026?
You can now watch the entire meeting On Demand.
This high-impact program features leading experts discussing:
• RA outcomes and pathogenesis
• Obesity, inflammation, and rheumatic disease
• Treatment decisions in Psoriatic https://t.co/A3wb3pzbl3
Links:
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Danish real-world study anifrolumab use in 36 #SLE pts. SLEDAI-2K decreased from 8 (baseline) to 2 @ mos 3; @6 mos 52% had SLEDAI-2K=0. 87% had PGA ≤0.5 w/ LLDAS, & 70% DORIS remission. Pred use declined by >50%. Herpes infx were most freq AE https://t.co/gNIAoXplMt https://t.co/D6xhQrY8ep
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
UK Our Future Health study of 1,563,155 finds affective Dz (depression, bipolar, anxiety) signific higher (p<0.001)in autoimmune pts vs gen. pop. (29% vs 18%) - dx by PHQ-9, GAD-7. (OR 1.86), even after adjustments income and pain, etc. https://t.co/HoKBeAZxbS https://t.co/NtJhaf7WCo
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Asia-Pacific Lupus study of Mucocutaneous activity (MC-A) in 4102 SLE pts. 36% had MC-A (rash 1055; alopecia 731; m ulcers 352); 15% persistently. MC-A assoc w/ W, smoking, +serologies, vasculitis, myositis, serositis, nephritis, NP-SLE https://t.co/XeBc4DJon9 https://t.co/n2wAq2OIGt
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Top Four and More (4.10.2026)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from RheumNow.com this week - including his top four favorite subjects.
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Danish real-world study anifrolumab use in 36 #SLE pts. SLEDAI-2K decreased from 8 (baseline) to 2 @ mos 3; @6 mos 52% had SLEDAI-2K=0. 87% had PGA ≤0.5 w/ LLDAS, & 70% DORIS remission. Pred use declined by >50%. Herpes infx were most freq AE https://t.co/tbMOyOioeU https://t.co/jDJgImjgQt
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
UK Our Future Health study of 1,563,155 finds affective Dz (depression, bipolar, anxiety) signific higher (p<0.001)in autoimmune pts vs gen. pop. (29% vs 18%) - dx by PHQ-9, GAD-7. (OR 1.86), even after adjustments income and pain, etc. https://t.co/HoKBeAZxbS https://t.co/LnC4lqqgq7
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Retrospective study of 1st SLE pregnancies from LUNA Registry. Fetal loss was associated w/ aPL (OR 2.46) & pulse steroids (2.46), but not w/ SSA Abs (1.32). 247 pregs, 194 live births, 53 fetal loss. Ro+ vs Ro- no difference in live births or preterm births https://t.co/bsMMvVyffw
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Therapeutic Updates
Expert insights on the 2024 ACR Guideline recommendations for lupus nephritis
Sponsored by Aurinia
Two experts in lupus care offer a balanced perspective on applying the updated ACR Guideline recommendations and the clinical nuances of managing lupus nephritis.
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Poster Hall
Recent Blogs
Dr. Cush provides a systematic approach to evaluating musculoskeletal and rheumatic complaints in clinical practice.
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Podcasts
ACR 2025 Daily Podcasts Day4a-
ACR 2025 Daily Podcasts Day3b
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ACR 2025 Daily Podcasts Day2b
