Glucocorticoids have been used for over 60 years as the mainstay treatment for autoimmune diseases. Despite their widespread use, glucocorticoids cause debilitating side effects including osteoporosis, diabetes, organ damage and heart disease. Systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is an incurable autoimmune disease where disease severity is mediated by type I interferons (IFNs).
Important for SLE patients, our study investigated a novel regulator of type I IFNs called GILZ. We and others have previously illustrated that GILZ displays many of beneficial anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids, but without the detrimental metabolic side effects. Additional to these benefits, this study importantly demonstrated that GILZ negatively correlated with disease activity in SLE patients. Significantly we also demonstrated that GILZ is able to regulate type I IFNs, which is key as type I IFNs correlate with SLE disease severity. Thus, this body of research indicates that GILZ represents a unique checkpoint on the IFN program. Although further research is required, the findings of this study highlight the importance of examining GILZ, as a potential therapeutic target, in future SLE therapies.
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