In this episode of Arthritis At Home featuring lupus highlights from #CRArthritis, we are sharing our interview with Dr. Andrea Fava, Faculty Member at the Johns Hopkins Lupus Center. Dr. Fava speaks about his RheumNow presentation on how a liquid biopsy for lupus nephritis can benefit patients.
Dr. Fava defines what lupus nephritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are. He follows with a definition of what and how a liquid biopsy is done – a procedure that uses urine samples instead of taking a small sample of tissue or cell by using a needle or scalpel to remove the tissue or cell. In traditional biopsy of the kidney, low protein in the urine may not necessarily mean no inflammation. A liquid biopsy can benefit patients because it is less invasive and can predict who is responding to medication by observing trends more frequently and faster. It also reduces the risk of irreversible kidney damage, which in most cases, happens in the first 6 months.
About Dr. Andrea Fava
Dr. Andrea Fava is a physician-scientist in the Division of Rheumatology. He received his medical degree from San Raffaele Medical School in Milan, Italy. Dr. Fava is a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Lupus Center where he is involved in the care of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis. Dr. Fava’s research is focused on lupus nephritis. As an Accelerating Medicines Partnership investigator, Dr. Fava is pursuing the discovery of novel (treatable) mechanisms and non-invasive biomarkers of lupus nephritis (liquid biopsy) using multiomic approaches such as single cell transcriptomics and urine proteomics.
Additional learning resources