Kellgren Centre research team recruit 200th patient to a lupus study

Congratulations to the research team at the Kellgren Centre who recently recruited their 200^th patient to the LEAP study.

The Lupus Extended Autoimmune Phenotype (LEAP) study looks to reconsider how clinicians assess and classify patients with connective tissue disease according to the genes and inflammatory proteins which drive the process, rather than simply on clinical diagnosis.

Connective tissue diseases are a family of related conditions that can affect many organ systems including the joints, skin, kidneys, lungs and blood vessels. Traditionally these diseases are grouped according to their clinical features such as lupus, systemic sclerosis and myositis. However, a large number of patients do not fit into these categories and are often described as “undifferentiated connective tissue disease”. Others have features of several conditions at once, so-called ‘overlap’ syndromes.

Many such patients are traditionally excluded from studies and trials. Despite this, these patients are likely to give us vital clues to the common features of the whole connective tissue disease family.

The research team, led by Professor Ian Bruce, will assess patients with connective tissue diseases from Greater Manchester to determine common features of their inflammation and blood vessel health. The study will help clinicians to target therapies more effectively and aid the design of future therapeutic trials.

Professor Ian Bruce added:

It is a fantastic achievement to recruit 200 patients and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work. Connective tissue disease patients are rarely studied in such a systematic fashion, so the LEAP study has the potential to deliver some really exciting results and help us learn more about this group of diseases. With funding to support the Biomedical Research Centre now secured, we are also hoping to continue to drive this research area forward over the next few years.