Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2012

Mentor: Benjamin Chong, M.D.                           
Department: Dermatology
Room number: NL8.140A 
Mail Code:     9069  
Phone number: 214-633-1837     
E-mail: ben.chong@utsouthwestern.edu                      
Project title:   A comparison of systemic lupus patients with and without discoid lupus

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): 082010-241, 042011-135

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects) – patient-based research

Brief Description of Project:

            Approximately 20% of all systemic lupus patients have discoid lupus lesions. Previous studies have suggested that systemic lupus patients who have discoid lupus may have less severe disease. However, rigorous comparisons between systemic lupus patients with and without discoid lupus have not been performed. We proposed performing a cross-sectional study of systemic lupus patients with and without discoid lupus in which we would compare clinical and serological markers (e.g. autoantibodies) between the two groups. We hypothesize that systemic lupus patients who have discoid lupus have less severe disease than those who don’t, based on end organ involvement and autoantibody levels. Systemic lupus patients will be recruited from both the Cutaneous Lupus Registry and Dallas Regional Autoimmune Disease Registry at UT Southwestern. We will review their medical charts to accumulate and compare clinical information, and will perform autoantibody measurements using ELISAs from sera that were drawn from each systemic lupus patient.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

Publications:

1.  Word AP, Perese F, Tseng L, Adams-Huet B, Olsen NJ, Chong BF. 25-OH vitamin D levels in African American and Caucasian/Hispanic cutaneous lupus subjects. Br J Dermatol 2012; 166:372-9. PMID: 21966891.
2.   Chong BF, Song J, Olsen NJ. Determining risk factors for developing systemic lupus erythematosus in discoid lupus erythematosus patients. Br J Dermatol 2012; 166:29-35. PMID: 21910708.

Projects:
1.   April Taylor (MS IV) (2011-2012) – Subacute cutaneous lupus patients with or without systemic lupus: a comparative approach. (Manuscript to be submitted to Archives in Dermatology)
2.   Quoc P. Tran (MS I), Daniel Wang (MS IV) (2010-2012) - A multi-centered study on quality of life in cutaneous lupus erythematosus patients. (Manuscript submitted to Journal of American Academy of Dermatology)
3.   Thomas Lee (MS I) (2011-2012) – IgG and IgM autoantibody differences between discoid and systemic lupus patients support a protective role for discoid lesions. (Manuscript submitted to Journal of Autoimmunity)
4.   Koriand’r Williams (MS II) (2012) – Gene expression studies in UVB-irradiated MRL-lpr mice
5.   Roselynn Nguyen (MS IV) (2011) – A comparison of discoid lupus erythematosus patients with or without anti-nuclear antibodies
6.  Kathryn Martires (MS IV) (2011) – A quality-of-life study in discoid lupus erythematosus patients at UT Southwestern
6.   Shurong Chang (MS IV) (2010-11) - Type I interferon-inducible genes are up-regulated in the peripheral blood of discoid lupus patients (Abstract accepted to 2011 ACRT/AFMR/SCTS Joint Annual Meeting)
7.   Aaron Mangold (MS IV) (2010) – Concomitant discoid lupus erythematosus and pemphigus vulgaris
8.   Douglas Buethe (MS IV) (2010) - Quinacrine-triggered psoriasis in a discoid lupus patient on chronic chloroquine therapy