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Audio Interview

Antiphospholipid syndrome and Lupus

Published on April 1, 2018   19 min

A selection of talks on Immunology

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Interviewer: Professor Hughes, thank you for sparing the time this morning. You're the head, as I understand of the London Lupus Center at the London Bridge Hospital. And today, we're going to talk a little bit about Lupus and Hughes' syndrome which was named after you. And in particular, from the clinical point of view, the unmet needs and opportunities that perhaps can open up for the developers of drugs in addressing these conditions. Let me start off by asking you, have I got it right that in both conditions, there is a trigger that sets off the condition but we don't know for certain what is or what are the trigger or triggers? Prof. Hughes: That's absolutely right. There's a bit of genetics and a bit of environment in many cases and the genetics is that we see members of the family of Lupus patients who also have Lupus or other what we call autoimmune diseases such as thyroid or MS or rheumatoid. But there are, as you say, environmental triggers that certainly start. One of them is stress of all things. It's not unusual to hear a patient first developing acute Lupus after a bereavement or whatever. The other one is sunshine, UV light, UVB light specifically and often young women with Lupus, their first presentation is on their honeymoon or on holiday in a sunny place. They come back fatigue, aches, and pains and sometimes rashes and that is now well-known.

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