October 26, 2015

Coming Up at LFNC

FREE PATIENT EDUCATION CLASS: Saturday, Nov. 7, 11 am. Register here. For newly diagnosed and other patients and loved ones looking to learn about lupus and how to manage your condition. Call 408-954-8600 if you have questions.

Get $50, Give $25 to Participate in Lupus Study

Bay are a residents: Make a difference in 30 minutes!

Help advance research for new lupus treatments by donating a sample of blood from the comfort of your home with Sanguine. When you donate, Sanguine Biosciences will give you $50 for your time and donate $20 to a charity of your choice, like the LFNC.

Click here to sign up or call 818-804-2462.

Make the Lupus Buddy Program Catch Fire

The Lupus Buddy Program - the first of its kind in lupus - is not even a month old (we launched it on July 15), and we already have almost 50 people signed up! Now that's something.

The interest in the program launched by the LFNC working with a volunteer coordinator tells us how valuable patients are finding it - not just in northern California but across the country. And although we couldn't be happier to see it take off among patients, one thing is holding us back from much broader outreach, recruitment and expansion: Funding.

You can solve that problem. Give just $25 (more if you can), then share our funding page with all your friends on your social networks. Donate now.

We started with a small seed funding from GSK, but we need to raise $10,000 more to help lupus patients from sea to shining sea. Why? We need time from program coordinators to match the patients, for orientation, for follow-up, for helping each pair of buddies at every stage. Give now, share and make it catch fire.

If you are a patient interested in the program, learn more, and sign up here. A program coordinator will be in touch with you. Any personal and medical information necessary to make the matches are treated with the highest degree of confidentiality.

LFNC is an active partner in

Information contained in this e-Newsletter should not be considered a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment or management of S.L.E. and symptoms by a physician.

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Editor: Spandan Chakrabarti

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New Study: Stem Cell Therapy Can Play a Role in Protecting Bone Health in Lupus

The risk to bone health and strength from lupus is enormous. Not simply from the joint pain and inflammation caused by the disease but just as much - or even more - from the side effects of medications used to treat lupus.

Previously, we have seen evidence that stem cell therapy can be effective in treating and preventing bone loss in lupus, but researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have now provided an explanation as to why: a protein from the transplanted stem cells may be responsible for the benefits.

University of Pennsylvania researchers and colleagues have puzzled out a mechanism by which stem cell transplants may help preserve bone in an animal model of lupus. In a paper published in the journal Cell Metabolism, they show that the transplanted cells provide a source of a key protein called Fas, which improves the function of bone marrow stem cells through a multi-step, epigenetic effect. The work has implications for potential therapeutic strategies for lupus as well as other diseases for which stem cell transplants have shown promise.

The study is important because it provides not just information about the possible benefits of stem cell therapy in lupus, but an avenue to begin to develop treatment options targeted to lupus patients based on the findings.

Read more about the research here.

Lupus Mini-Conference with Credit for Nurses Coming to Stockton

LFNC's Fall 2015 Lupus Mini-Conference will be headlined by Dr. C. Michael Neuwelt, and held from 11 am to 4 pm on December 5, 2015 at the St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton, CA. Our conferences are designed to benefit patients, friends and family and medical professionals alike, and are certified by the California Nursing Board to grant CEU credits to attending California RNs.

Registration fees: $50 for credit attendees, $30 for others. No one will be turned away for inability to pay. Current LFNC members receive a discount of $10 on either registration. Registration is required.

You may register online on our website, or download a registration form mail or fax it to us. Please call us at (408) 954-8600 to register by phone or if you need a fee waiver.

Little Over 200 Tickets Left!

One great cause. One beauty of a sedan.

Little over 200 tickets left to be sold, out of a total of 600. Get yours now!

Win a Mercedes CLA-250, or $25,000 in cash.

Want it? Get in fast before all 600 tickets sell out!

Tickets: $75 per entry. $200 for three (3) or $300 for five (5)

Call us at (408) 954-8600 for the fastest way to buy your tickets or complete this form and mail or fax it to us. Remember, the more tickets you buy, the better your chances!

When is the giveaway?

As soon as the 600th ticket is sold!