Following the symposium’s earlier panels on translational and clinical research, Panel 3 focused on “Social and Behavioral Sciences Research” and explored reproductive healthcare gaps in rheumatology, cardiovascular disease in women, and barriers affecting chronic disease care.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Advances in rheumatoid arthritis research, diagnostics, and therapies that reshaped patient outcomes.
Rethinking Obesity, Inflammation, and Disease Risk
Body mass index (BMI) has long been used to assess whether a person falls within a healthy weight range, but growing evidence suggests that BMI alone may not fully capture an individual’s health risks. A new study published in Nature Medicine highlights just how different those risks can be. Researchers analyzed health data from nearly 200,000 adults […]
Vagus Nerve Research: Implications for Autoimmune Disease
A live discussion with Kevin J. Tracey and Eric Topol highlights how vagus nerve research is shaping autoimmune disease science.
Rising Investment in Autoimmune Disease Diagnosis
A new global market analysis projects rapid growth in autoimmune disease diagnostic testing over the next several years, driven by rising rates of autoimmune conditions and increased emphasis on earlier detection. While market reports typically focus on industry trends, this growth may have meaningful implications for people living with autoimmune disease. Systemic autoimmune diseases, such […]
How NETs Drive Autoimmune Disease and New Treatment Targets
A study published in Frontiers in Immunology reviewed the emerging role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in the development and progression of autoimmune diseases. The authors argue that NETs are central players in autoimmune pathology because they bridge innate and adaptive immunity, serve as sources of autoantigens, and directly damage tissues. NETs are web-like DNA–protein structures released […]
Breakthrough Autoimmune Findings at ACR 2025
The American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting, ACR Convergence 2025, took place from October 24 to 29 in Chicago and featured significant advances that could transform the treatment and understanding of autoimmune diseases. For rheumatoid arthritis, researchers reported encouraging results from an experimental therapy called rosnilimab. The drug works by removing overactive immune cells known as T cells, […]
Nobel Prize: Discoveries That Prevent Autoimmunity
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their discovery of a class of immune cells that help to prevent the body from attacking its own tissues. Their landmark discoveries of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and the FOXP3 gene transformed understanding of immune tolerance and opened the […]
What is the Autoimmune Prodrome?
Most autoimmune diseases do not appear overnight. Instead, many begin with a prolonged “silent” phase, often referred to as the autoimmune prodrome. During this stage, which can last for several years, the immune system begins to exhibit early signs of malfunction. People may notice vague symptoms, such as fatigue, brain fog, stomach or skin problems, or mild joint pain, but nothing that clearly points to a single disease. Doctors sometimes detect early warning signals in bloodwork, such as inflammation or antibodies that target the body, but these are not enough to make a diagnosis on their own.
Veterans With Lupus and RA Have Higher Pregnancy Risks
A new study in ACR Open Rheumatology reveals that female veterans with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) face substantially higher risks of pregnancy loss and severe maternal morbidity compared to other veterans. Analyzing Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health records from 2009–2019, researchers identified 29,713 pregnancies, including 113 in women with SLE and 92 […]
Breakthrough Insights on Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares & Pain
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects more than 1.5 million Americans and often limits patients’ ability to travel for care or research. To overcome this challenge, researchers at Rockefeller University, led by Dr. Dana Orange, developed an at-home finger-prick RNA sequencing test that enables patients to contribute samples without leaving home. This innovation has generated striking discoveries. […]