09-25-2024 Primetime - Flipbook - Page 4
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A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, September 25, 2024
HEALTH
Giving hope to
lupus patients
Innovative treatments
and community outreach
at the forefront at the
University of Maryland
Ashira D. Blazer, M.D., M.S.C.I., assistant professor of medicine and co-director of the
Lupus Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
A
ccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more
than 200,000 Americans are living with lupus, an often painful autoimmune condition where the immune system turns on the body, producing
antibodies that attack the skin, joints, kidneys, brain or other organs.
Ashira D. Blazer, M.D., M.S.C.I., an
assistant professor of medicine and
co-director of the Lupus Center at
the University of Maryland School of
Medicine, says that the Baltimore region
has a higher rate than many other metropolitan areas due to its large African
American population. “Lupus predominantly affects women, and women of
color,” she says.
Blazer’s clinical research is focused
on the genetic risk factors for lupus,
especially those of West African ancestry.
“I’ve been looking primarily at a
genetic mutation in the apolipoprotein
L1 gene, or APOL1 for short, which is a
genetic risk factor for progressive kidney
disease. People who carry the mutation
are less likely to die from African sleeping
sickness, which is a parasitic infection,
but if you carry two copies of the risk
variant, you are at higher risk of developing end stage kidney disease and also
cardiovascular disease,” says Blazer. “I
study the interplay between lupus inflammation, and this genetic risk factor that
causes severe kidney injury.”
Blazer also studies environmental factors that may play a role as well. “We’re
just starting to scratch the surface on
which environmental factors non-white
populations more regularly face that may
contribute to the prevalence of lupus.”
She notes that smoking and exposures
to certain particles, like silica dust, are
known to be associated with lupus.
“However, I think more interestingly,
data is starting to come out that ingestion of highly-processed foods increases
the risk of lupus. Populations that are
affected with this rheumatic condition
frequently live in food deserts and are
often more exposed to processed foods.
As our Western lifestyle trends more and
more dependent on these processed
foods, we’re seeing more and more
autoimmunity and cases of lupus,” says
Blazer, who adds that those in underserved communities and neighborhoods
have more exposure to environmental
pollutants and exhaust, and those neighborhoods are more likely to have members who have rheumatoid arthritis or
lupus.
Recognizing that no two lupus
patients are alike, many experience joint
pain, rashes, possible hair loss, kidney injury, fatigue and brain fog. And
while there is no cure, Blazer says it’s
actually a really exciting time in lupus
because we have better treatments than
we ever have. “For a really long time,
the treatment for lupus was steroids or
hydroxychloroquine, and dialysis for kidney failure. The recent development of
advanced therapies and biologic drugs
for lupus is really encouraging. Also, CAR
T-cell therapy is very promising, although
it’s very early in the research phase,” she
says. CAR T-cell therapy involves taking the patient’s T cells, training them to
attack autoreactive B cells, and giving
them back to the patient through the
bone marrow. “T cells can go anywhere
– in the blood, lymph nodes or tissues –
and places drugs can’t go.”
Blazer collaborates with the University
of Ghana and Lagos State University
in Africa to study genetic risk factors
in different environments and better
understand their different impacts in this
African ancestry population.
Although she joined the University of
Maryland less than a year ago, Blazer
says she is really excited to be in this
environment and a part of the University’s
mission.
“There’s such an investment in community here. Lupus requires lifelong quality access to care, and you can’t really tell
the story of lupus without telling the story
about access to care and health disparities,” she says. “University of Maryland
is thinking about that in a very innovative
way, and it is one of many examples of
the campus’ dedication to serving the
Baltimore City community.”
To learn more about rheumatology
services offered at the University
of Maryland or to schedule an
appointment, visit
umfpi.org/rheumatology.
