Clinical Trial Finder

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  INCLUSION CRITERIA:

  - SLE or suspected SLE established by ACR criteria.

• - Ability to give informed consent.

• - Adult and minor relatives (first and second degree) of individuals Included in IV-G (only for genetic studies) - Ability of the patient or minor relative s parents to give informed consent.

• - Affected individuals age greater than or equal to 9 years with no upper age limit.

• - Healthy Volunteers (non-related) age greater than or equal to 18 with no upper age limit.

• - Healthy Volunteers (first- and second-degree relatives) age greater than or equal to 9 with no upper age limit.

• - Vascular studies adults only age greater than or equal to 18 with no upper age limit.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

• - Concomitant medical problems which would confound the interpretation of studies gathered by this protocol.

Included in this is the presence of HIV in the blood, active malignancies, or other significant medical conditions that may interferes with interpretation of some lupus studies.

• - Concomitant medical, surgical or other conditions for which inadequate facilities are available to support their care at NIH.

• - Inability or unwillingness to comply with follow up requirements (e.g. distance, social, physical limitations) - Any comorbidity of medical or psychological/psychiatric condition or treatment after reviewing of patients previous or outside medical records, that in the opinion of the Principal Investigator, would exclude the subjects from the research studies (e.g. Patient.

requiring urgent and/or acute medical care, surgical or other procedures) -Unwilling to participate in research studies or to provide research samples or data. Criteria for Exclusion: Any concomitant medical problems or are taking medications which would confound the interpretation of studies they are considered for. EXCLUSION CRITERIA FOR VASCULAR STUDIES ONLY, FOR SLE AND HEALTHY CONTROLS:

• - Subjects with a contraindication to MRI scanning will not receive the optional Cardiovascular MRI.

These contraindications include subjects with the following devices:

• - Central nervous system aneurysm clips unless it is labeled safe or conditional for MRI.

• - Implanted neural stimulator (e.g.TENS-Unit) unless it is labeled safe or conditional for MRI.

• - Implanted cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator unless it is labeled safe or conditional for MRI.

• - Cochlear or any type of ear implant unless it is labeled safe or conditional for MRI.

• - Ocular foreign body (e.g. metal shavings) - Implanted Insulin pump or drug infusion device unless it is labeled safe or conditional for MRI.

• - Metal shrapnel or bullet unless cleared by plain x-ray as safe for MRI.

• - Subjects with renal excretory dysfunction, estimated glomerular filtration rate < 60 mL/min/1.73m(2) using the CKD-EPI equation or equivalent (using the CRIS-calculated eGFR to define the threshold) and a serum creatinine measured within 2 weeks without intercurrent change in medical condition or medications.

Subjects meeting this exclusion criterion may still be included in the study but will not be exposed to the cardiac CT angiography, or gadolinium-based contrast agents.

• - Pregnant or lactating women will be excluded from vascular studies.

• - Any clinical instability precluding subject from getting MRI as determined by the enrolling clinician.

• - Healthy controls with known history of coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease or atherosclerosis.

• - Individuals younger than 18 years old will be excluded given the radiation exposure as well as the lack of proper validation for the proposed vascular function studies.

This research protocol will evaluate subjects with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and their relatives to study the pathogenesis and natural history of the disease and the mechanisms leading to enhanced organ damage. Patients will be evaluated by a history and physical examination and routine laboratory studies will be obtained as needed to assess disease activity or complications of the disease and to monitor for drug-related toxicities. Blood, skin or urine specimens may be requested for research purposes, including genetic studies. In addition, a subset of these patients will undergo several tests to understand the pathogenic changes affecting their blood vessels. Patients who are eligible for other research protocols will be offered the opportunity to participate in these studies by signed informed consent. Any medical care recommended or provided to the patient will be consistent with routine standards of practice and provided in consultation with the patient s referring physician. Blood and urine samples and cardiovascular testing will also be collected or applied to from healthy volunteers for research purposes and to support the identification and validation of new biomarker candidates.

Arms

: 1

Longitudinal cohort study with affected SLE patients

: 2

Patient relatives

: 3

Unrelated healthy volunteers

Interventions