Lupus News

August 26, 2025

Top Headlines

The Surprising Reason X-rays Can Push Arthritis Patients Toward Surgery

Aug. 26, 2025 — Knee osteoarthritis is a major cause of pain and disability, but routine X-rays often do more harm than good. New research shows that being shown an X-ray can increase anxiety, make people fear exercise, and lead them to believe surgery is the only ...

Is Ketamine the Answer for Chronic Pain? New Findings Cast Doubt

Aug. 18, 2025 — A sweeping review of 67 trials has cast doubt on the use of ketamine and similar NMDA receptor antagonists for chronic pain relief. While ketamine is frequently prescribed off-label for conditions like fibromyalgia and nerve pain, researchers found ...

Lupus Often Fades with Age. Scientists Finally Know Why

Aug. 4, 2025 — Lupus, a relentless autoimmune disease, appears to mellow with age. While it aggressively targets organs with runaway interferon signaling in younger adults, researchers at UCSF have found that the aging process itself may naturally tone down these ...

This Sugar Molecule Could Stop Type 1 Diabetes, by Fooling the Immune System

Aug. 2, 2025 — In a fascinating twist, Mayo Clinic researchers discovered that a sugar molecule cancer cells use to hide from the immune system might also protect insulin-producing beta cells in type 1 diabetes. By ...

Pain Relief Without Pills? VR Nature Scenes Trigger the Brain’s Healing Switch

July 31, 2025 — Stepping into a virtual forest or waterfall scene through VR could be the future of pain management. A new study shows that immersive virtual nature dramatically reduces pain sensitivity almost as ...

How a Hidden Brain Circuit Fuels Fibromyalgia, Migraines, and PTSD

July 10, 2025 — What if your brain is the reason some pain feels unbearable? Scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a hidden brain circuit that gives pain its emotional punch—essentially transforming ordinary discomfort into lasting misery. This ...

USC's New AI Implant Promises Drug-free Relief for Chronic Pain

June 24, 2025 — A groundbreaking wireless implant promises real-time, personalized pain relief using AI and ultrasound power no batteries, no wires, and no opioids. Designed by USC and UCLA engineers, it reads brain signals, adapts on the fly, and bends naturally ...

Being in Nature Can Help People with Chronic Back Pain Manage Their Condition

June 3, 2025 — Researchers asked patients, some of whom had experienced lower back pain for up to 40 years, if being in nature helped them coped better with their lower back pain. They found that people able to ...

Brain Training Game Offers New Hope for Drug-free Pain Management

June 3, 2025 — A trial of an interactive game that trains people to alter their brain waves has shown promise as a treatment for nerve pain -- offering hope for a new generation of drug-free ...

Depression Linked to Physical Pain Years Later

May 21, 2025 — Middle-aged and older adults who experience pain are more likely to have had worsening symptoms of depression up to eight years before the pain began, according to a new ...

Why Some Viral Infections Appear to Trigger Autoimmune Disease

May 20, 2025 — By studying Chikungunya virus, scientists shed light on how immune responses to viral infections may lead to persistent symptoms of autoimmune ...

Relieve Your Pain with a Psychologist or an App

May 17, 2025 — Psychological treatment can relieve pain. New research now shows what happens in the brain -- and what specific treatments psychologists, doctors and patients can turn ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:34am EDT

Protein Switch Turns Anti-Viral Immune Response on and Off

May 16, 2025 — An international research team has discovered a critical protein that acts as a 'switch' regulating immune responses to ...

People With Lupus Who Have Certain Antibodies Are More Likely to Experience Blood Clots, Researchers Find

May 15, 2025 — Some patients with lupus who possess specific antibodies are at a higher risk of thrombotic events such as a blood clot, stroke or heart attack, a ...

New Chronic Pain Therapy Retrains the Brain to Process Emotions

May 7, 2025 — Researchers have created an effective therapy for chronic pain that reduces pain intensity by focusing on emotional ...

Explaining the Link Between 'Good' Gut Bacteria and Rheumatoid Arthritis

May 4, 2025 — After spending years tracing the origin and migration pattern of an unusual type of immune cell in mice, researchers have shown in a new study how activity of 'good' microbes in the gut is linked to ...

A Repurposed Anti-Inflammatory Drug May Help Treat Alcohol Use Disorder and Related Pain

Apr. 22, 2025 — A preclinical study finds that a drug already FDA-approved for treating inflammatory conditions may help reduce both alcohol intake and pain ...

Study Shows How New Antibody Therapy Works Against Ovarian Cancer

Apr. 14, 2025 — Research has shed light on how a new type of antibody treatment reactivates patients' immune cells to fight ovarian ...

FDA Clears IND for Clinical Trial Testing Switchable CAR-T Therapy in Patients With Autoimmune Diseases, Without Chemotherapy

Apr. 12, 2025 — FDA has cleared an investigational new drug (IND) application to study switchable chimeric antigen receptor T cell (sCAR-T) therapy (CLBR001 + ...

Researchers Identify Safer Pathway for Pain Relief

Apr. 9, 2025 — Scientists have helped identify a novel drug compound that selectively activates pain-altering receptors in the body, offering a potentially safer alternative to conventional pain ...

By Re-Creating Neural Pathway in Dish, Stanford Medicine Research May Speed Pain Treatment

Apr. 9, 2025 — Scientists have rebuilt, in laboratory glassware, the neural pathway that sends information from the body's periphery to the brain, promising to aid ...

Estrogen and Progesterone Stimulate the Body to Make Opioids

Apr. 7, 2025 — Female hormones can suppress pain by making immune cells near the spinal cord produce opioids, a new study has found. This stops pain signals before they get to the brain. The discovery could help ...

Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Improve Chronic Low Back Pain

Apr. 7, 2025 — Eight weeks of mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy were associated with improved pain, physical function and quality of life and reduced daily opioid dose in adults with chronic low back pain ...

Peacekeeper Cells Protect the Body from Autoimmunity During Infection

Mar. 21, 2025 — New research shows how a specially trained population of immune cells keeps the peace by preventing other immune cells from attacking their own. The study provides a better understanding of immune ...

Researchers Find Missing Link in Autoimmune Disorder

Mar. 18, 2025 — Scientists have identified a protein in cells that spurs the release of infection-fighting molecules. The protein, whose role in the immune system had not previously been suspected, provides a ...

'It Still Hurts, She Said': Why Pain Medication May Not Be as Effective for Women as It Is for Men

Mar. 17, 2025 — A new study may help to explain why there is an over-representation of women experiencing chronic pain compared to men and why pain medication may not be as effective for women as it is for men. ...

Not Knowing What to Expect Can Make Pain Feel Worse

Mar. 14, 2025 — When the brain doesn't know what to expect we perceive pain to be worse, a new study shows. The study may help shape more effective ways to manage pain in the ...

Nature Relieves Physical Pain: Pain-Related Signals in the Brain Are Reduced

Mar. 13, 2025 — Neuroscientists have shown that experiencing nature can alleviate acute physical pain. Surprisingly, simply watching nature videos was enough to relieve pain. Using functional magnetic resonance ...

Innovative in Vivo Imaging Offers New Treatment, Hope for Sufferers of Chronic TMJ-Related Pain

Mar. 13, 2025 — Study uncovers new insights into pain pathways associated with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. Using an innovative in vivo imaging tool to capture functional activity in mouse models of TMJ ...

Cannabis Terpenes Offer Potential New Way to Treat Fibromyalgia Pain

Mar. 12, 2025 — A recently completed study found that certain terpenes in Cannabis sativa are effective at relieving post-surgical and fibromyalgia pain in preclinical ...

Promising Active Ingredient for Lupus Therapy

Mar. 12, 2025 — Lupus is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs, causing inflammation and damaging organs. A new study has now shown that the natural active ...

Worldwide Study Finds High Rates of Depression and Anxiety in People With Chronic Pain

Mar. 10, 2025 — A novel analysis of more than 375 published studies concluded that the association between chronic pain and rates of depression and anxiety is staggering. The study found that 40% of adults with ...

Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers Linked to Improved Recovery from Concussion

Mar. 5, 2025 — People who take over-the-counter pain relievers after a concussion may recover faster than those who do not take pain relievers, according to a preliminary ...

Possible Biomarker Identified for Crohn's Disease With Arthritis Type

Mar. 5, 2025 — People with Crohn's disease and related joint inflammation linked to immune system dysfunction have distinct gut bacteria or microbiota, with the bacterium Mediterraneibacter gnavus being a ...

Compound Harnesses Cannabis' Pain-Relieving Properties Without Side Effects

Mar. 5, 2025 — Researchers have developed a compound that relieves pain in mice but doesn't affect the brain, thereby avoiding mind-altering side effects and abuse potential. The custom-designed molecule, ...

How the Brain Distinguishes Between Pain and Itch

Mar. 4, 2025 — A research team has uncovered the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of pain and itch in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This study provides new insights into how the brain ...

Chronic Diseases Misdiagnosed as Psychosomatic Can Lead to Long Term Damage to Physical and Mental Wellbeing, Study Finds

Mar. 3, 2025 — A 'chasm of misunderstanding and miscommunication' is often experienced between clinicians and patients, leading to autoimmune diseases such as lupus and vasculitis being wrongly diagnosed ...

New Study Supports Caution Regarding Use of Steroids

Feb. 26, 2025 — A new study of more than 2,900 patients provides evidence that it's likely best to use as little corticosteroid medicine as possible when treating people who have lupus pericarditis, a common ...

Biological Organ Ages Predict Disease Risk Decades in Advance

Feb. 25, 2025 — Our organs age at different rates, and a blood test determining how much they've each aged could predict the risk of conditions like lung cancer and heart disease decades later, finds a new ...

Humans Inherited Their Flexible Joints from the Earliest Jawed Fish

Feb. 25, 2025 — The efficient architecture of our joints, which allows our skeletons to be flexible and sturdy, originated among our most ancient jawed fish ancestors, according to a new ...

Immune 'Fingerprints' Aid Diagnosis of Complex Diseases

Feb. 24, 2025 — Receptors on B and T cells hint at what the immune system is targeting. An AI approach called Mal-ID developed increases diagnostic accuracy, particularly for autoimmune ...

The Brain Perceives Unexpected Pain More Strongly

Feb. 21, 2025 — Researchers used visual threat manipulation in the virtual reality environment and thermal stimulation to investigate how the brain perceives pain. They found that the brain perceives pain more ...