Ongoing Studies

  • Lupus Nexus Landmark Study (LLS): A Prospective Registry and Biobank: LuCIN is a leading clinical research network in lupus, comprising over 50 renowned medical centers across North America. The aim of LLS aim is to speed up the development of personalized treatments for lupus by bringing together top experts to review new therapies and advance scientific progress. The MGH Clinic is one of these centers participating in a 5-year project to create a biobank, collecting medical data and biological samples from SLE patients in a digital database. This resource will support future lupus research and provide extensive patient data and samples to the research community.
  • Offspring of SLE mothers Registry (OSLER): Dr. Vinet is a leading expert in reproductive issues impacting women with rheumatic disease. She created the world’s largest cohort of children born to women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the “Offspring of SLE mothers Registry (OSLER)”. Using OSLER, Dr. Vinet and her team have uncovered that SLE offspring have an increased risk of certain adverse health outcomes (autism, congenital heart defects) compared to children from the general population.
  • Lupus prEGnAnCY (LEGACY) cohort: The Lupus prEGnAnCY (LEGACY) cohort is an international multi-centre prospective cohort of unselected SLE pregnancies. The study’s biobank collects plasma, sera, and crude white cell pellet and clinical data. This can help inform future research on adverse pregnancy outcomes and preventative therapies. They recently enrolled their 100th pregnancy.
  • Cancer Risk Study: Dr. Bernatsky is universally acknowledged as the world’s leader in cancer risk in SLE. She leads the Cancer Risk study which began as a multisite international SLE cohort linked with regional tumor registries to study if SLE disease activity was associated with lymphoma development and other cancers. Their findings show increased hematological malignancies, lung, thyroid, and vulvar cancers in SLE patients, compared to breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. To strengthen this analysis of the association between SLE and cancer, Dr. Bernatsky and her team are updating cancer estimates by reestablish connections with their respective registries. Updating our cancer estimates will lead to a deeper analysis of the association between SLE and cancer thus provide further guidance for SLE patients.
  • At the heart of the matter - Speckle tracking echocardiography in lupus mothers and their offspring: Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more susceptible to complications with the placenta. These complications can impact heart health in women and their offspring. Although hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) can prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes in SLE, it might cause cardiac toxicity. Speckle tracking echocardiograph, an imaging technique, looks at the way heart tissue moves. This novel approach can identify heart function issues and drug toxicity effects. No studies have used this method to evaluate the cardiovascular health of pregnant SLE women and their offspring.  The Heart of the Matter study assesses the impact of complications with the placenta on maternal and neonatal cardiac function and the impact of HCQ exposure and maternal SLE autoantibodies on neonatal cardiac function.
  • Self-collected urine in SLE for Primary Human PapillomaVirus  screening: the SLE-P-HPV study: This new initiative aims to optimize cervical cancer screening in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We will evaluate an innovative approach for primary human papillomavirus (HPV) screening based on urine self-sampling during routine SLE care in women aged 25-69. 

Past Studies

  • Determinants of Adherence to Conventional Therapy and Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicines in Patients with SLE
  • Lymphoma Risk in SLE
  • Neurological Involvement in Lupus
  • The Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) Registry for Atherosclerosis in SLE
  • The Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) Study of Involvement of the Nervous System in SLE
  • 1000 Faces of Lupus
  • Health Improvement and Prevention Program (HIPP)
  • LUNNET – Lupus Nephritis New Emerging Team
  • The Role of Thrombophilic Factors in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus ThromboFIL)
  • Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome
  • GENES: Genetic and EnvironmentalFactors in SLE
  • AROSE: ACR Reclassification Of SLE