Researchers have used DNA sequencing to unlock the genetic cause of the autoimmune disease lupus in a 10-year-old girl, in a discovery that could allow doctors to target specific treatments to individual patients.
Medical researchers at the Australian National University’s Centre for Personalised Immunology sequenced the genes of a young Sydney girl and managed to discover the genetic cause of her severe lupus disease.
The girl had suffered a stroke at the age of four because of her lupus, but this new discovery could mean doctors are now able to target her specific disease and potentially find treatments for her.
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease which occurs when auto-antibodies mistakenly attack a body’s healthy tissue, such as joints, skin, the lining of the heart, lungs, blood and kidneys. It affects about one in 700 people but symptoms can vary from person to person.