The future of treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus

The future promises good news for the treatment of systemic lupus erythemat osus, some of which can already be foreseen. Increased knowledge on genes t hat participate in the predisposition, pathogenesis, pharmacogenetics of, a nd protection against this disease may permit intervention at this level, A lso, better understanding about the role of sex hormones has allowed trials of weak androgens or prolactin inhibitors. New immunomodulators or immunos uppresors may enable more precise treatment at the immunoregulatory level, and greater knowledge on the disturbance of circuits has already provided h ints and even allowed trials of anti-interleukin-10 antibodies, an IL-10 de creasing agent, tolerance-induction strategies or intervention at the level of T cell co-stimulation, as well as immune ablation with subsequent stem cell transplantation. Autoantibodies can be removed, controlled by means of antiidiotypes, which are blocked from reaching their target antigen or unc oupled from the tissues they have reached. All these treatment strategies w ill gradually become decanted in order to achieve the optimal treatment of SLE, which may turn out to be its cure.