• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Thursday, September 4, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Potential Biomarkers Identified for Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Lupus

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
February 9, 2022
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

A globally renowned expert in autoimmune diseases and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at the University of Houston has identified potential biomarkers for neuropsychiatric symptoms of lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks its own tissues, causing widespread inflammation and tissue damage in the affected organs. 

Chandra Mohan, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Houston

Credit: University of Houston

A globally renowned expert in autoimmune diseases and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at the University of Houston has identified potential biomarkers for neuropsychiatric symptoms of lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks its own tissues, causing widespread inflammation and tissue damage in the affected organs. 

While most people with lupus experience a variety of symptoms that include fatigue, skin rashes, fever, and pain or swelling in the joints, about half of people with SLE suffer neuropsychiatric symptoms. Those include seizures, aseptic meningitis, acutely confused states, cerebrovascular disease psychosis and mood disorders.  

“The diagnosis of neuropsychiatric lupus is difficult because the neurological symptoms could very well be due to other causes. As no gold-standard diagnostic test exists for neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE), we executed a broad screen of NPSLE cerebrospinal fluid using an aptamer-based platform,” reports Chandra Mohan, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professor of biomedical engineering, in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology. Aptamers are short sequences of nucleic acids that can be further selected based on their binding specificities. Commercially available libraries of aptamers allow comprehensive screening of >1000 human protein targets, representing some of the largest screening platforms currently available in targeted proteomics.  

Mohan’s team screened more than 1,100 proteins in the fluid surrounding the brains of neuropsychiatric lupus patients and identified a few proteins that could potentially be used to diagnose neuropsychiatric lupus. The proteins that showed up in most samples are CSF Lipocalin-2, M-CSF, IgM and complement C3.  

“These proteins emerged as promising cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of NPSLE with diagnostic potential,” Mohan reported. “Elevated CSF C3 was associated with acute confusional state. Eleven molecules elevated in the fluid exhibited concordant elevation in the choroid plexus, suggesting shared origins.” 

Neuropsychiatric events occur most frequently early during the disease course in most cases, either as a presenting symptom or within the first five years of disease onset.  

Cerebrospinal fluid samples used in this study were provided by collaborators John Hanly from Dalhousie Lupus Clinic, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and C.C. Mok from Tuen Mun hospital in Hong Kong, China. Laboratory studies were carried out by UH researcher Kamala Vanarsa in Mohan’s lab. 

“We believe proteomic investigations of blood and cerebrospinal fluid will eventually lead to the fabrication of a serum or cerebrospinal fluid-based diagnostic panel that permits accurate diagnosis of NPSLE, with significantly higher specificity for this disease, compared to other neuroinflammatory diseases or infections,” said Mohan.  



Journal

Arthritis & Rheumatology

Article Title

Aptamer-based screen of Neuropsychiatric Lupus cerebrospinal fluid reveals potential biomarkers that overlap with the choroid plexus transcriptome

Article Publication Date

31-Jan-2022

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Uncovering Heat-Tolerant Flavonoids in Rice Mutant

September 4, 2025

House Centipedes: Rapid Leg Regeneration and Growth

September 4, 2025

Feed Additives Shield Quails from Gossypol Damage

September 4, 2025

Unlocking the Genetic Secrets of Migratory Mammals

September 3, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • Needlestick Injury Rates in Nurses and Students in Pakistan

    297 shares
    Share 119 Tweet 74
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    155 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    143 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    118 shares
    Share 47 Tweet 30

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Sex Differences in Preclinical Models of Liver Disease

Mir-199a-3p Fuels Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Model

Chronic Ototoxicity Triggers Early Hair Cell Gene Downregulation

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.