Lung Disease Common in Late-Onset SLE Rates of interstitial lung disease more than doubled

Many potential factors may contribute to the increased pulmonary risks among late-onset lupus patients, including effects on both the innate and adaptive immune systems. For example, neutrophils in older individuals are less capable of killing phagocytosed pathogens but have increased apoptosis, and thymic production of naive T-cells declines, leading to proliferation of memory T cells and a resulting proinflammatory state. An additional contributory factor for interstitial lung disease in older patients may be a possible SLE-Sjogren's syndrome overlap syndrome, which has been reported by several groups. The prevalence of interstitial lung disease in Sjogren's syndrome, at 9% to 75%, is much higher than in SLE, at 1% to 15%, so an overlap syndrome could explain the high incidence in older patients. "In addition to a possible Sjogren's overlap phenotype in late-onset SLE, factors such as duration of disease, environmental exposures, and smoking trends over time might also correlate with SLE interstitial lung disease," the researchers observed. https://www.medpagetoday.com/rheumatology/lupus/70981?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-02-07&eun=g721819d0r&pos=0&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-02-07&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days