Drug Compound Screening for Dermatomyositis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

描述（由申请人提供）：皮肌炎和系统性红斑狼疮是原因不确定的自身免疫性疾病，没有特异性的药物治疗，通常使用非特异性免疫抑制药物治疗，有明显的并发症。我们研究了皮肌炎和其他炎症性肌病患者的肌肉和血液样本，并认为浆细胞样树突状细胞过量产生干扰素α和β (IFN-a/b)是皮肌炎组织损伤的主要原因。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dermatomyositis and systemic lupus erythematosus are autoimmune disorders of uncertain cause and without specific medical therapy, generally treated with non-specific immunosuppressive medications that have significant complications. We have studied muscle and blood samples from patients with dermatomyositis and other inflammatory myopathies, and believe that overproduction of interferon alpha and beta (IFN-a/b) by plasmacytoid dendritic cells is responsible for tissue injury in dermatomyositis specifically. Other investigators studying systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have also hypothesized that such overproduction of IFN-a/b is in part responsible for the manifestations of that disease. We propose to use high-throughput drug discovery methods to identify compounds of predicted efficacy for DM and SLE. Development of such compounds into safe and effective drugs for the treatment of DM and SLE is the long-term objective of this work.